Eddie Fishman
Adjunct Professor of International and Public Affairs
Personal Details
Focus area: The intersection of business, economics, and national security
Edward Fishman’s career spans business, public policy, and technology. He is currently a Director at Via, a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council, and an Adjunct Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). His research focuses on sanctions and the evolving ways states use economic power to advance their foreign policy interests. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Fishman served at the U.S. Department of State as a member of the Secretary’s Policy Planning Staff. In that role, Mr. Fishman advised Secretary of State John Kerry on Europe and Eurasia and led the staff’s work on economic sanctions, long-range strategic planning, and international order and norms. He also managed the Secretary of State’s Foreign Affairs Policy Board and represented the State Department at the National Security Council-led Strategic Planning Small Group, an interagency body that conducted wide-ranging strategic assessments of trends in geopolitics, economics, and technology.
Before joining the Policy Planning Staff, Mr. Fishman was the Russia and Europe Lead in the State Department’s Office of Economic Sanctions Policy and Implementation, where he played a central role in designing and negotiating international sanctions in response to Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. Earlier, Mr. Fishman served as a member of the Iran sanctions team, where he developed policies to strengthen implementation of sanctions against Iran and maintain pressure during the international nuclear negotiations.
Mr. Fishman has also served at the Pentagon as special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at the Treasury Department as special assistant to the Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, and at technology companies in the autonomous vehicle and cybersecurity industries. Mr. Fishman is a recipient of the State Department’s Superior Honor Award (twice) and its Meritorious Honor Award, having been recognized for his contributions to U.S. policy toward Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, and Iran.
Prior to his government service, Mr. Fishman was an editor at Foreign Affairs. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Boston Review, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and other outlets, and he appears regularly as an expert commentator on television and radio programs. A native of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, Mr. Fishman holds a B.A. in History from Yale University, where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa; an M.Phil. in International Relations from the University of Cambridge; and an M.B.A. from Stanford University, where he graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.
Education
- M.B.A., Stanford University
- M.Phil. in International Relations, University of Cambridge
- B.A. in History, Yale University
In The Media
Deterrence Is Out, and Economic Attrition Is In—Eddie Fishman co-writes.
This Columbia News feature highlights multiple experts from SIPA and its centers, including Stephen Sestanovich, Jason Bordoff, Kimberly Marten, Ian Bremmer and others.
“No sanctions can be proportional to Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Eddie Fishman of the Center on Global Energy Policy comments, “but these sanctions will make the costs palpable.”
Eddie Fishman called Joe Biden’s action on Tuesday a modest first step intended as “a shot across the bow.”
“Oil accounts for roughly half of Russia’s export revenues, so it will be very difficult to impose devastating sanctions on Russia without touching” the energy industry, Eddie Fishman of the Center on Global Energy Policy comments.