Federica Saini Fasanotti

Federica Saini Fasanotti is a nonresident fellow in the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution. She is also a senior associate at ISPI in Milan. She is a historian specialized in counterinsurgency and asymmetric wars. Her fieldwork and research have covered, among others, Afghanistan, Libya, and the Horn of Africa.

Her many books include: "Violated Joy. Crimes against Italians 1940-1946" (Ares Editore, 2006); "Ethiopia 1936-1940. Colonial Counterinsurgency through the Sources of the Italian Army" (Historical Office of the Italian Army, 2010), which was selected as a finalist for the "Acqui Storia 2011" Award; "Libya 1922-1931. The Italian Counterinsurgency" (Historical Office of the Italian Army, 2012); "Military History of Afghanistan. From the Durrani's Empire to Resolute Support Mission" (Mursia Editore, 2014).

Saini Fasanotti’s current book project is "The Counterinsurgency Doctrine from the XVII Century to the present," a wide ranging study on the history, methods, and pillars of counterinsurgency in the modern era. She has published “VINCERE! The Italian Royal Army’s Counterinsurgency Operations in Africa, 1922-1940” with the Naval Institute in Annapolis.

She has been a consultant on Libya for James Mattis, the former U.S. secretary of defense and for the Terna Group, the first grid operator for electricity transmission in Europe.

In September 2016, she testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs about terrorism in Libya.

Saini Fasanotti also holds bachelor’s degrees in history of art criticism and contemporary history summa cum laude. She speaks Italian, English, and Spanish.

Affiliations:

ISPI, senior associate

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., University of Milan, 2004
• B.A., summa cum laude, Contemporary History, University of Milan, 2001
• B.A., History of Art Criticism, University of Milan, 1997