Mackenzie Eaglen

Mackenzie Eaglen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, specializing in defense strategy, defense budgets, and military readiness. Eaglen's career encompasses extensive experience within the U.S. defense establishment, including roles in the House of Representatives, the U.S. Senate—where she served as principal defense advisor to a senior senator—and the Pentagon in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and on the Joint Staff. She holds an M.A. in security studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and a B.A. from Mercer University.

Eaglen has contributed to significant national defense reviews, serving as a staff member on the Commission on the National Defense Strategy of the United States, which produced the report "Providing for the Common Defense." She also contributed to the congressionally mandated National Defense Panel and the bipartisan Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel, both established to evaluate the Pentagon's overarching defense strategy. Eaglen's experience spans multiple administrations and bipartisan commissions, providing expertise on the long-term trajectory of American military power.

In addition to her commission work, Eaglen has served on the U.S. Army War College Board of Visitors and the Army Science Board, which advises Army senior leadership on scientific matters. She was named co-chair of the National Commission on the Future of the Navy, tasked with studying the strategy, budget, and policies related to the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. Eaglen is also a member of the board of advisers of the Alexander Hamilton Society and serves on the steering committee of the Leadership Council for Women in National Security.

Eaglen's writing on national security, defense policy, and military modernization has appeared in Foreign Affairs, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Politico, and War on the Rocks. She has testified before Congress on national defense issues. Eaglen is the editor of "Affording Defense," a volume addressing the resource-strategic mismatch in U.S. defense policy, and the author of works including "The 2020s Tri-Service Modernization Crunch" and "Why Provide for the Common Defense?" Defense News has included her on its list of the 100 most influential people in U.S. defense. Eaglen is a regular guest lecturer at universities and appears frequently on television programs including Fox News and CNN, providing analysis on defense budgets, military readiness, and U.S. national security policy.