Paul B. Stares is the General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and Director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), an Adjunct Professor in the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and a Guest Lecturer at the London School of Economics. He is the author of The Militarization of Space: U.S. Policy, 1945-1984 (Cornell University Press, 1985), Space and National Security (Brookings Institution Press, 1987), Command Performance: The Neglected Dimension of European Security (Brookings Institution Press, 1991), and Global Habit: The Drug Problem in a Borderless World (Brookings Institution Press, 1997). He is the editor or co-editor of The New Germany and the New Europe (Brookings Institution Press, 1992), The New Security Agenda: A Global Survey (Brookings Institution Press, 1998), Rethinking Energy Security in East Asia (Japan Center for International Exchange, 2000), Guidance for Governance: Comparing Alternative Sources of Public Policy Advice (Japan Center for International Exchange, 2001), and Diasporas in Conflict: Peace-Makers or Peace-Wreckers? (United Nations University Press, 2007).Paul B. Stares is the General John W. Vessey Senior Fellow for Conflict Prevention and director of the Center for Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations. The author or editor of nine books on U.S. security policy and international relations as well as a regular commentator on current affairs, Stares has worked at leading think tanks and universities in the United States, Britain, and Japan. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.

Peter Feaver, Duke University:
Stares offers an optimistic—yet realistic and pragmatic—plan for using all elements of national power to better anticipate and mitigate global problems before they become unmanageable.

Stephen Walt, Robert and Renee Belfer Professor of International Affairs, Harvard University:
National security officials often prepare to fight the last war. In Preventive Engagement, Paul Stares argues for doing more to prevent the next one. In an era when the United States is overcommitted and tensions are multiplying, learning to anticipate and head off trouble makes eminent good sense. Readers may not agree with all of Stares’ recommendations, but his systematic, lucid, and forward-looking perspective is a valuable contribution to the broader debate on America’s role in the world.

Ian Bremmer, president and founder, Eurasia Group:
The liberal international order as we know it is in retreat. The rise of Russia and China, combined with America’s pullback and the uneven progress of globalization, have all shaken the foundations of our global political system—but as Paul Stares rightly points out, that doesn’t mean all is lost. If Americans and/or members of the Trump administration still harbor hope of keeping any semblance of U.S. primacy intact, Stares's book is a good place to start.

Michael O'Hanlon, senior fellow, Brookings Institution:
An erudite, elegant, extremely well informed, and very thoughtful explanation of current American grand strategy, this book provides specific, finite, and feasible recommendations for improving the U.S. government's ability to anticipate and manage the latent risks of war.

Tony Blinken, former Deputy Secretary of State:
Paul Stares offers a timely, much needed antidote to a more turbulent world: a comprehensive strategy, drawing on all aspects of American power, to prevent conflict and advance U.S. interests without draining our human or financial resources. Far from disengaging America from the world, Stares rightly advocates greater but smarter engagement. His book is a compelling argument that strength and wisdom must be flip sides of the same foreign policy coin.