Dr. Nicholas Rostow

Nicholas Rostow is Distinguished Research Professor at the National Defense University, specializing in international and national security law and affairs and U.S. government and international decision-making in foreign and national security policy, and Senior Director of the Center for Strategic Research.  In addition, he is a Senior Research Scholar at the Yale Law School.  In 2010, he was a visiting professor at the Samuel Neaman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science and Technology at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology.

Prior to joining NDU in September 2010, Professor Rostow served for more than 4 years as University Counsel and Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs and tenured full professor at the State University of New York.  His public service positions include: General Counsel and Senior Policy Adviser to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations, 2001-05; Charles H. Stockton Chair in International Law, U.S. Naval War College, 2001; Staff Director, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 1999-2000; Counsel and Deputy Staff Director to the House Select Committee on Military/Commercial Concerns with the People’s Republic of China, 1998-99; Special Assistant to Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush for National Security Affairs and Legal Adviser to the National Security Council under Colin Powell and Brent Scowcroft; and Special Assistant to the Legal Adviser, U.S. Department of State, 1985-1987.

Professor Rostow has taught at the University of Tulsa College of Law and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy as well as the Naval War College.  He earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from Yale in 1972, and his Ph.D. in history and J.D., also from Yale.  His publications are in the fields of diplomatic history, international law, and issues of U.S. national security and foreign policy.