Peter Rough

Senior Fellow and Director, Center on Europe and Eurasia

Peter Rough 91ÆÞÓÑ Institute

At A Glance:

Peter Rough is a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at 91ÆÞÓÑ Institute.

Biography

Peter Rough is a senior fellow and director of the Center on Europe and Eurasia at 91ÆÞÓÑ Institute. In that capacity, he writes and comments on US foreign policy and regularly briefs official delegations, news media, public intellectuals, academics, and business leaders from around the world. Mr. Rough also convenes several track 1.5 dialogues.

Mr. Rough is a regular commentator on major radio and television and speaker in public forums. While at the institute, he has been named a next generation leader at the Munich Security Conference, Atlantik-Brücke, the Center for New American Security, and the American Institute for Contemporary German Studies. He has also helped edit 91ÆÞÓÑ’s journal, Current Trends in Islamist Ideology.

Mr. Rough is also principal and founder of Hilltop Solutions, a limited liability company that performs writing and research services for academics, executives, and political professionals. Previously, as director of research in the Office of George W. Bush, Mr. Rough assisted the former president with his memoir, Decision Points. In 2014, his highly acclaimed collaboration with Leila Fawaz on a social history of World War I in the Middle East, A Land of Aching Hearts, was published by Harvard University Press.

From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Rough served as associate director in the White House Office of Strategic Initiatives, where he helped coordinate political strategy and outreach to key stakeholders. He has also completed stints as a policy analyst at the US Agency for International Development, where he was staff briefer to Administrator Henrietta Fore, and as an advisor to US Army Special Operations Command, where he analyzed unconventional warfare doctrine for the commanding general’s Strategic Initiatives Group.

Mr. Rough began his career at the Republican National Committee specializing in political research. A proud native of Des Moines, Iowa, he holds his BA, summa cum laude, from the George Washington University and MA in law and diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he was a Cabot corporation scholar.

He is a member of the board of the Bastion Institute and previously served as a commissioner of the Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) Commission in Berlin. Mr. Rough is also a member of the Friends of Ukraine Network’s (FOUN) Task Force on National Security and vice chair of the Reagan Institute’s Forum for American Leadership Europe group.

Mr. Rough is a native German speaker.

Events
03
December 2024
In-Person Event | 91ÆÞÓÑ Institute
Moldova’s Euro-Atlantic Future with President of the Parliament Igor Grosu and Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi
Featured Speakers:
Igor Grosu
Mihai Popșoi
Luke Coffey
Peter Rough
Moldovan President Maia Sandu and European Union Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn pose in front of the Moldovan and EU flags in Chisinau, Moldova, on May 9, 2024. (Elena Covalenco via Getty Images)
03
December 2024
In-Person Event | 91ÆÞÓÑ Institute
Moldova’s Euro-Atlantic Future with President of the Parliament Igor Grosu and Foreign Minister Mihai Popșoi

Next year the country will hold important parliamentary elections, which Russia will doubtlessly try to undermine using disinformation. To discuss recent developments in Moldova and the region, 91ÆÞÓÑ is honored to welcome Moldovan Foreign Minister Mihai PopÈ™oi and President of the Parliament of Moldova Igor Grosu.

Moldovan President Maia Sandu and European Union Commissioner for Budget and Administration Johannes Hahn pose in front of the Moldovan and EU flags in Chisinau, Moldova, on May 9, 2024. (Elena Covalenco via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Igor Grosu
Mihai Popșoi
Luke Coffey
Peter Rough
21
November 2024
Past Event
Big Ideas for America’s New National Security Team
Featured Speakers:
Mike Gallagher
Nadia Schadlow
Peter Rough
Shyam Sankar
Marine One carrying Joe Biden flies past US Flags on April 18, 2024, in Washington, DC. (J. David Ake via Getty Images)
21
November 2024
Past Event
Big Ideas for America’s New National Security Team

Distinguished Fellow Mike Gallagher will join Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar and Senior Fellows Peter Rough and Nadia Schadlow to discuss what to expect from the second Trump administration and how Washington can change course by returning to hard-power principles and reasserting American dominance on the world stage.

Marine One carrying Joe Biden flies past US Flags on April 18, 2024, in Washington, DC. (J. David Ake via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Mike Gallagher
Nadia Schadlow
Peter Rough
Shyam Sankar
14
November 2024
Past Event
The Future: On Energy, Change, Innovation, and Democracy | Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture 2024
Featured Speakers:
Senator Miroslav Bárta
Colonel Otakar Foltýn
Peter Rough
People gather on November 17, 2019, in Bratislava, Slovakia, as part of the commemorations of the peaceful Velvet Revolution that toppled the Communist regime in former Czechoslovakia 30 years ago. (Vladimir Simicek/AFP via Getty Images)
14
November 2024
Past Event
The Future: On Energy, Change, Innovation, and Democracy | Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture 2024

The Czech and Slovak Freedom Lecture was established in 2000 and is intended to commemorate the anniversary of the 1989 Velvet Revolution. Additional information about the previous 24 lectures can be accessed on

People gather on November 17, 2019, in Bratislava, Slovakia, as part of the commemorations of the peaceful Velvet Revolution that toppled the Communist regime in former Czechoslovakia 30 years ago. (Vladimir Simicek/AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Senator Miroslav Bárta
Colonel Otakar Foltýn
Peter Rough
14
November 2024
Past Event
100 Days of the Kursk Operation: What the US Can Do to Help Ukraine
Featured Speakers:
Can KasapoÄŸlu
Luke Coffey
Glib Voloskyi
Moderator:
Peter Rough
Ukrainian tank driving on September 16, 2024, in Kursk Region, Russia. (Oleg Palchyk via Getty Images)
14
November 2024
Past Event
100 Days of the Kursk Operation: What the US Can Do to Help Ukraine

A distinguished panel of experts will assess the first 100 days of the Kursk operation and what to expect from the next US presidential administration.

Ukrainian tank driving on September 16, 2024, in Kursk Region, Russia. (Oleg Palchyk via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Can KasapoÄŸlu
Luke Coffey
Glib Voloskyi
Moderator:
Peter Rough