Thomas Wright joined The Chicago Council on Global Affairs as its new executive director of studies on August 1, 2008. Previously, Wright served as a senior researcher for the “Princeton Project on National Security,” a multi-year bipartisan project of Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He was the principal drafter of the final report titled Forging a World of Liberty Under Law. Widely publicized when released in November 2006, the report unveiled a bipartisan national security strategy for the United States, addressing the most potent threats to U.S. national security throughout the next several decades including: global terror networks, the proliferation and transfer of nuclear weapons, instability in East Asia, the Middle East, global pandemics, and energy.

For the past six years, Wright also has served as the rapporteur for a National Intelligence Council sponsored study group on strategic challenges in an age of American preeminence. He earned his doctorate from Georgetown University in 2007 and was awarded a pre-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. His area of expertise is international relations with a special focus on Europe, and his work has appeared in the American Political Science Review, the Washington Post, and a number of international newspapers and media outlets. 

312.821.7516 - Office
e-mail

Recent Publications:

• "Implications of the Financial Crisis for Soft Power in East Asia,"  Report of a Workshop Hosted by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and The East Asia Institute, November 2009
• “Asia Still Likes America,” with David Shambaugh, International Herald Tribune, February 18, 2009
• “On Reforming the International Order,” Policy Analysis Brief for The Stanley Foundation, February 2009
• "Obama Needs to Re-engage Europe,” The Toronto Star, December 4, 2008
• “Is Europe Ready,” Prospect Magazine, December 2008
•  Introduction to G-20 online Forum, with Carlos Pascual, November 14, 2008
• “Rising Powers and International Institutions,”  with John Ikenberry, Report for The Century Foundation, June 2008

In the News:

• Quoted in “On Maiden Mission, Clinton Bows to Asia’s New Power,” AFP, February 12 2009
• On Judging Panel for Prospect Magazine’s Most Influential Public Intellectual of 2008. See “An Intellectual Surge,” Prospect Magazine, January 2009