George Friedman (STRATFOR)

George Friedman is chief executive of STRATFOR, a private global intelligence firm he founded in 1996. Prior to joining the private sector, Friedman spent almost twenty years in academia, teaching political science at Dickinson College. During this time, he also regularly briefed senior commanders in the armed services as well as the Office of Net Assessments, SHAPE Technical Center, the U.S. Army War College, National Defense University and the RAND Corporation, on security and national defense matters.


Friedman pursued political philosophy with his early work focusing on Marxism, as well as international conflict, including examination of the U.S.-Soviet relationship from a military perspective. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Friedman studied potential for a U.S.-Japan conflict and co-authored The Coming War with Japan in 1991. He is also the author or co-author of books examining topics as diverse as the Frankfurt School and warfare, including The Future of War,The next hundred years, The Intelligence Edge, and America’s Secret War.

He received a B.A. at the City College of New York, where he majored in political science, and a Ph.D. in government at Cornell University.

Major television and radio networks such as CNN, Fox News, and NPR frequently invite Dr. Friedman to appear as an international intelligence expert. He and STRATFOR have also been featured in cover stories in Barron’s and in the UK’s New Statesman. Dr. Friedman has been featured in Time Magazine, The New York Times Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. He is frequently quoted in The New York Times, Fortune, Newsweek, USA Today, the International Herald Tribune.