LTC Robert W. Schaefer is a highly decorated U.S. Army Special Forces (Green Beret) and Eurasian Foreign Area Officer. For more than 25 years he has served in a variety of special units and he has participated in virtually every U.S. overseas operation since 1990. He has extensive experience with counterinsurgency and counter-terrorist operations around the world and has lived and worked in many countries of the former Soviet Union. He is uniquely qualified to analyze the conflict in the North Caucasus because of his first-hand experience planning and executing counterinsurgency and counter-terrorism operations in the Caucasus region. LTC Schaefer was the recipient of the Special Operations Command (US SOCOM) Award of Excellence in 2001. He obtained his Masters Degree in Russian, Eastern European, and Central Asian Studies from Harvard University in 2005. His latest book, “The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus: From Gazavat to Jihad” (Praeger, 2011) has won multiple awards for current events, earned a Kirkus Star, as well as rave reviews from the New York Times and The Economist.