Vice President, Truman National Security Project

An expert and articulate voice on America’s security challenges, Mike Breen has quickly become a prominent spokesman for the progressive national security community. He has appeared in numerous national and regional media outlets on a wide range of issues, particularly energy security, refugees, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism.

A decorated former Army Captain, Breen served in tactical and operational assignments in both Afghanistan and Iraq. In Afghanistan, Breen led a platoon of paratroopers operating in the Korengal and Pech valleys, often in support of Special Operations Forces. In Iraq, Breen managed civil-military relations for his infantry company as the acting “mayor” of several Baghdad neighborhoods, coordinating governance and essential services for over 300,000 Iraqi civilians. Breen also served as Effects-Based Operations Officer for Combined Joint Task Force 76 and Division Targeting Officer for 1^st Armored Division.

After leaving the Army, Breen received a JD from Yale Law School and clerked for the Office of White House Counsel, where he focused on homeland and national security issues.

Breen is a Founding Director of the Iraqi Refugee Assistant Project, an international organization which helps resettle Iraqi Refugees, as well as the Yale Law Foreign Policy Workshop, which provides consulting services on foreign policy and national security issues. He has consulted for government agencies, the United Nations, private foundations, and an international war crimes tribunal.

Mike holds a BA in Government from Dartmouth College and a JD from Yale Law School, having studied in Russia, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. Originally from New Hampshire, Mike and his wife currently live in Washington, DC.

Mike can be reached at mbreen@trumanproject.org