About
AT A GLANCE:
Retired Colonel, US Army
RESEARCH AREAS:
• Peace Operations
• Low-intensity conflict
• Insurgency
• Terrorism
• Counterterrorism
• Special Operations
• Internal Wars
• Middle East conflict
• The Iraq War
• U.S. foreign policy
• Security force assistance
• Espionage
• Civil-Military Relations
• Technology
• Conflict
BIOGRAPHY:
During Col. (Ret.) Frank Sobchak’s (PhD) twenty-six-year career in the US Army, he served in various Special Forces assignments
including leading teams and companies advising foreign militaries in war and peace
and representing US Special Operations Command as a congressional liaison. For his
final assignment, he led the Army effort to publish an official history of the Iraq
War. That effort spanned five years and included the declassification of over 30,000
pages and several hundred interviews. The project’s culmination was the publication
of the 1,500-page two-volume set, The U.S. Army in the Iraq War.
He holds a BS in military history from West Point, a MA in Arab studies from Georgetown
University, and a PhD in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and
Diplomacy. He has taught at the US Military Academy at West Point, Joint Special Operations
University, Tufts University, and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
PUBLICATIONS:
The U.S. Army in the Iraq War, Invasion, Insurgency, Civil War: 2003-2006, Vol. 1 of 2, with Joel Rayburn, editor, and Jeanne Godfroy-Hull, James Powell, and
Mathew Morton; (Carlisle, PA.: Strategic Studies Institute, 2019). Co-editor, also
author of ten chapters and co-author of two.
The U.S. Army in the Iraq War, Surge and Withdrawal: 2007-2011, Vol. 2 of 2, with Joel Rayburn, editor, and Jeanne Godfroy-Hull, James Powell, and
Mathew Morton; (Carlisle, PA.: Strategic Studies Institute, 2019). Co-editor, also
co-author of six chapters.
• CHAPTERS IN A BOOK:
“The Tortured Path to Strategic Failure: U.S. Landpower in Iraq 2003-2011,” in Landpower in the Long War: Projecting Force After 9/11, (Lexington, KY: University
Press of Kentucky, 2019).
“Accidentally Accelerating Sectarianism: The U.S. Role in the Iraqi Civil War,” in Contextualizing Sectarianism in the Middle East and South Asia, (New York, NY:
Routledge, 2023).
• ARTICLES:
How Iraq Won the Iran War
(March 2023) | Time
U.S. Deterrence Failed in Ukraine
(February 2023) Why the United States Failed to Deter Russia in Ukraine (foreignpolicy.com)
How Much Do Language Skills Matter for Security Force Assistance? Not as Much as We
Think (November 2022) - Modern War Institute (usma.edu)
A nuclear Iran could create a Middle East Nightmare
(November 2022) | The Hill
The Afghans that Fought (Afghan Commandos, focus of SOF BPC)
(September 2021) | Small Wars Journal
The Army Needs to Understand the Afghanistan Disaster
(September 2021) - WSJ
The Revolution Behind the Attempted Revolution
(January 2021) | Small Wars Journal
Six Days and the Forever War
(June 2020) | Opinion (newsweek.com)
Why the Iraq War Matters: The U.S. Army is Trying to Bury the Lessons of the Iraq
War
(March 2019) - Defense One
CONNECT / FOLLOW:
LinkedIn: @Frank Sobchak,PhD
Twitter: @AbuJeshua