Thrall’s research includes work on shifting American attitudes toward foreign policy, the role of arms sales in U.S. foreign policy, and grand strategy. Most recently he is the coauthor, with John Glaser and Christopher A. Preble, of Fuel to the Fire: How Trump Made America’s Broken Foreign Policy Even Worse (and How We Can Recover) (Cato Institute, 2019). He also edited, with Ben Friedman, U.S. Grand Strategy in the 21st Century: The Case for Restraint (Routledge, 2018).
Thrall has published articles in a range of academic journals, and his shorter commentary on foreign affairs has appeared in a number of publications, including The Atlantic, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Foreign Policy, the Detroit News, the Huffington Post, War on the Rocks, and the National Interest.
Thrall was the cohost of the Power Problems podcast, a biweekly podcast that explores key questions in international security with guests from across the political spectrum.
Prior to working at George Mason, Thrall taught at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, where he directed the MPP and MPA programs. Thrall holds a PhD in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.