Erik Goepner

About the Author

Erik Goepner is a visiting research fellow in the Cato Institute’s Defense and Foreign Policy Department. A retired colonel from the U.S. Air Force, his military assignments included unit commands in Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Pacific region.

His research interests include national security, civil war, terrorism, and trauma. He has published in the Washington Post, Parameters, Newsweek, and The National Interest, among other outlets.

Goepner is a doctoral candidate at George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government. He received MA’s from George Washington University and the Air Command and Staff College.