Ian Joseph Brzezinski is a Senior Fellow in the International Security Program and is on the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Advisors Group.[1]
During George W. Bush presidency of the United States, he served as Deputy Assistant United States Secretary of Defense for Europe and NATO Policy (2001–5). Brzezinski worked for five years a Principal at Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc. providing policy and technical support to U.S. combatant commands and foreign clients.[2]
Brzezinski is frequent contributor of American press on foreign policy issues.[3][4][5] Today, he leads the Brzezinski Group, which provides strategic insight and advice to government and commercial clients.
Ian Brzezinski is son of Polish American political scientist, geostrategist, and statesman Zbigniew Brzezinski, brother of American lawyer and foreign policy expert Mark Brzezinski and American television news journalist at MSNBC Mika Brzezinski
At the United States Department of Defense Brzezinski's office formulated, coordinated and executed bilateral and regional engagement strategies and defense guidance with the Joint Staff, Unified Combatant Command and Department of Defense elements. His lead responsibilities included NATO expansion, Alliance force planning and transformation and NATO operations in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, Afghanistan and Iraq. Key highlights of his tenure include the expansion of NATO membership in 2004, the consolidation and reconfiguration of the Alliance’s command structure, the standing up of the NATO Response Force and the coordination of European military contributions to U.S. and NATO-led operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans.
Brzezinski served for seven years on Capitol Hill, first as a Legislative Assistant for National Security Affairs to the Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Bill Roth, (1995–2000) and then as a Senior Professional Staff Member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (2000–1).[6] In these capacities, he drafted and implemented legislative initiatives and strategies concerning U.S. interests in Europe, Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. As the staff coordinator of the Senate NATO Observer Group, he facilitated coordination and communication between the U.S. Senate and the executive branch on NATO enlargement, NATO operations in the Balkans and Alliance force modernization among other issues.
Brzezinski served as a volunteer in Ukraine (1993-94) where he advised the Ukrainian National Security Council, Foreign Ministry, Defense Ministry and Parliament. He served as a member of the Policy Planning Staff in the Department of Defense (1991–93), a Consultant to the Center for Naval Analysis (1991–92) and a Support Analyst/Information Assistant at the National Security Council (1986–7).
For his public service, Brzezinski has been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas, Award of Ministry of Defence of Latvia, the Romanian Medal for National Service, Order of Commander, and the Order of Merit, Republic of Poland, Officer Class.
Brzeziński is a Polish surname derived from the root word "brzoza" ("brzez-" in some compound words), meaning "birch". The adjective suffix "ski" means "being like" or "belonging to", so Brzeziński refers to a person from one of the localities named for a concentration of birch trees, such as Brzezina, (a small village in Western Pomerania). In Polish, Brzeziński has an accent mark over the letter "ń", making the Polish pronunciation "bzhe-ZEEN-ski".
The Brzeziński surname was originally borne only by the szlachta, the Polish noble class, who took their names from their estates, but it later spread to the working and peasant classes as well.
There were 25,361 persons with the name Brzeziński in Poland in 1990. The name has been borne by numerous notable Poles and persons of Polish descent.