Biography
Alan Dowd is an award-winning writer with decades of experience in opinion journalism, public-policy research and communications consultancy. Nationally recognized for his commentaries on issues ranging from faith to philanthropy to foreign policy, Dowd has published more than 1,800 columns and essays in some of the world’s leading newspapers, journals and digital platforms.
Focusing on the defense of freedom at home and abroad, Dowd’s writing has appeared in: Parameters, The Jerusalem Post, Real Clear Defense, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The National Post, The Washington Times, World Politics Review, The Baltimore Sun, Policy Review, Global Security Review, The Washington Examiner, Providence, Military Officer, The Claremont Review of Books, The American Legion Magazine, Public Discourse, byFaith, Stream, The Lookout, American Outlook, The American, The American Enterprise, The Journal of Diplomacy & International Relations, Fraser Forum, Current, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, The Indianapolis Star, The National Interest, and the online editions of The American Interest, Weekly Standard, and National Review. In addition, his writing has been featured by the American Institute for Economic Research, the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics, and the Brownstone Institute. In 2013, Dowd’s article “The (Not So) Pacific” received the Apex Award of Excellence in Feature Writing and the Communicator Silver Award of Distinction. In 2003, the Evangelical Press Association awarded Dowd's essay “When Adam Wept” most outstanding article.
Dowd is a senior fellow with the Sagamore Institute, where he leads the Center for America’s Purpose, publishes Capstones and serves as curator of the Pathfinder project—a storehouse of the essentials for understanding the evolution of U.S. foreign and defense policy. In addition, Dowd is a contributing editor with The American Legion Magazine, where he writes the Landing Zone column; senior fellow with the American Security Council Foundation; and a contributing editor with Providence.
Previously, Dowd served as managing director of the Fraser Institute’s EFNA Network, director of the Hudson Institute’s corporate headquarters, associate editor of The American Legion Magazine and a congressional aide. He has provided communications support to Cabinet officials, members of Congress, state legislators, and a range of nonprofits and businesses.
Dowd is coauthor of From Generation to Generation (Sagamore Press 2025, available here), The New Security Blueprint (Sagamore Press 2023, available here), Cybersecurity Challenges for Canada and the United States (Fraser Institute 2015, available here) and Economic Freedom of North America 2008 (Fraser Institute 2008, available here). He has been interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Times, The Financial Post, The National Post, Congressional Quarterly Researcher, Fox News Channel and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Butler University and a master’s degree from Indiana University.
Contact him here; follow him on Twitter/X.
