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Nicholas A. Heras|NicholasAHeras|NicholasA.Heras

Nicholas A. Heras

Senior Director

Nicholas Heras is the Senior Director for the Strategy and Programs Unit in the Academic Division at the New Lines Institute. In this role, he develops strategic programming for the academic programs at the Institute and oversees the institutional research innovation activities. He was previously the Deputy Director of the Human Security Unit and the Senior Analyst and Program Head for the State Resilience and Fragility Program at the Institute. Before joining the institute, he was the Director of Government Relations and the Middle East Security Program Manager at the Institute for the Study of War, the Middle East Security Fellow and the 1LT Andrew J. Bacevich, Jr., USA Fellow at the Center for a New American Security, and a Senior Analyst at the Jamestown Foundation.  

Heras served as a Research Associate at the National Defense University from 2013-2014, where he was responsible for managing field research and analysis for a project for the U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command. He was a David L. Boren Fellow based in Beirut, Lebanon, in 2010 and 2011, and previously worked as the Research Associate at the American University Center for Global Peace, where he managed field research and analysis for several projects focused on Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. 

Heras has written or co-written numerous reports and analytical articles on topics concerning global and Middle East security issues, presented widely on these topics to multiple U.S. government and military agencies and nongovernmental organizations. He has been a frequent commentator to the media on global and Middle East security issues, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The Washington Times, The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times, Forbes, USA Today, Time magazine, U.S. News & World Report, CNN, CBS News, NBC News, Fox News, C-SPAN, Bloomberg Television, National Public Radio, Voice of America, Public Radio International, Stars and Stripes,  The Christian Science Monitor, Newsweek, Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Vice News, BBC World Service, Australian Broadcasting Company, Canadian Broadcasting Company, Deutsche Welle, Al-Jazeera, Al-Arabiyya, Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, Reuters, Mother Jones, Le Monde diplomatique, The Guardian, and The Telegraph. He tweets at @NicholasAHeras.

Latest Articles

Islamic State Exploiting Eurasian Conflicts

In this episode of Eurasian Connectivity, Kamran Bokhari sits down with Nick Heras. Together, they dive into the spate of international attacks by Islamic State, its refocus to Central Asia, and how the global community could react.

Nonstate Actors

The Russo-Ukrainian War: 2 Years In

To commemorate the two-year anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, host Nick Heras sits down with Eugene Chausovsky. In addition to discussing the present military situation, Chausovsky explains the international tie-ins to the conflict, hybrid escalation, and what the future of the conflict looks like.

Strategic Competition