Gregory D. Johnsen
Non-Resident Fellow, AGSI; Associate Director, Institute for Future Conflict, U.S. Air Force Academy
Gregory D. Johnsen is a non-resident fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute. He is currently the associate director of the Institute for Future Conflict at the U.S. Air Force Academy.
Johnsen has been a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, a Fulbright Fellow in Yemen, and a Fulbright-Hays Fellow in Egypt. In 2013-14 he was selected as BuzzFeed’s inaugural Michael Hastings National Security Reporting Fellow where he won a Dirksen Award from the National Press Foundation and, in collaboration with Radiolab, a Peabody Award. He has a PhD from Princeton University and master’s degrees from Princeton and the University of Arizona. Johnsen is the author of The Last Refuge: Yemen, Al-Qaeda, and America’s War in Arabia (W.W. Norton), which has been translated into multiple languages. From 2016-18 he served on the Yemen Panel of Experts for the United Nations Security Council. In 2019, he served as the lead writer for the United States Institute of Peace’s Syria Study Group. His writing on Yemen and terrorism has appeared in, among others, The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Foreign Policy.
Analysis
Betting Big in Yemen
For the Houthis, this is an existential fight. But the United States has a harder path to success.
Yemen’s Weakest Link: The Presidential Leadership Council
To eliminate the Houthis' capabilities, the United States will need the support of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, a body plagued by infighting and incompetence.
The Coming War in Yemen
Trump’s executive order redesignating the Houthis a foreign terrorist organization threatens direct military action against the Houthis, raising the possibility that the United States could get sucked into another long-term conflict in the Middle East.
Great Power Competition in the Red Sea
For the United States, the Houthi threat in the Red Sea should be treated as part of strategic competition instead of merely a local or regional challenge.
Day One Problems: Yemen
No matter who wins the presidency in November, the United States will need a strategy that allows it to protect free and open trade in the Red Sea without becoming bogged down in an open-ended conflict in Yemen.
The Houthis’ Achilles Heel
In the short term, increasing economic pressure on the Houthis is likely to prompt them to reignite attacks on Saudi Arabia, while in the long term it could make reuniting Yemen into a single state all but impossible.
Events
Mar 12, 2024
The Houthi Challenge to Maritime Security
On March 12, AGSIW hosted a discussion on the Houthi challenge to maritime security in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
Speakers
Is the End in Sight for the Yemen Conflict?
On October 26, AGSIW hosted a discussion on the prospects for the end of the conflict in Yemen.
Speakers
Can a New U.N. Envoy Produce Peace in Yemen?
On July 15, AGSIW hosted a discussion on the top issues and challenges facing the incoming United Nations special envoy for Yemen.
Speakers
With Renewed Efforts To End the War, What are the Prospects for Peace in Yemen?
On Wednesday April 28, AGSIW hosted a discussion on efforts to end the conflict in Yemen.
Speakers
