Kaan Kutlu Ataç is currently an assistant professor in the International Relations department at Mersin University and a visiting lecturer at The Turkish National Defence University. Ataç has a Ph.D. from the Department of History at Hacettepe University. He has M.A.s from the Department of Public Administration (political theory) and the Department of International Relations (American Middle East policy and Syria) both from Hacettepe University. His academic interests cover strategy, national security, intelligence and security studies, and American and Turkish foreign policies. He was granted the U.S. State Department International Visiting Leadership Program (IVLP) on International Security Matters (2008) and the U.K. FCO Chevening Scholarship (Contemporary European Studies, Birmingham University (2007). His academic teaching responsibilities include undergraduate and graduate courses in grand strategy, geopolitics, international security, national security and intelligence, Turkish foreign policy and American foreign policy.