He is a professor emeritus of international relations and history at the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies.

He is a former director of Boston University's Center for International Relations (from 1998 to 2005), now part of the Pardee School of Global Studies.

[10] Later he held posts in Germany, including in the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment; the United States; and the Persian Gulf up to his retirement from the service with the rank of colonel in the early 1990s.

His early retirement is thought to be a result of his taking responsibility for the Camp Doha (Kuwait) explosion[10] in 1991 in command of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment.

[citation needed] Bacevich initially published writings in a number of politically oriented magazines, including The Wilson Quarterly.

On August 15, 2008, Bacevich appeared as the guest of Bill Moyers Journal on PBS to promote his book, The Limits of Power.

In March 2003, at the time of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Bacevich wrote in the Los Angeles Times that "if, as seems probable, the effort encounters greater resistance than its architects imagine, our way of life may find itself tested in ways that will make the Vietnam War look like a mere blip in American history.

"[4] Bacevich's book American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of US Diplomacy, published in 2004, was highly praised by Professor of International Relations and author Peter Gowan for being "a tonic to read: crisp, vivid, pungent, with a dry sense of humour and sharp sense of hypocrisies."

Part of his argument includes the fact that "this liberal Democrat has promised to end the U.S. combat role in Iraq.

"[16] In the October 11, 2009, issue of The Boston Globe, he wrote that the decision to commit more troops to Afghanistan may be the most fateful choice of the Obama administration.

By retaining a strategic arsenal in readiness (and by insisting without qualification that the dropping of atomic bombs on two Japanese cities in 1945 was justified), the United States continues tacitly to sustain the view that nuclear weapons play a legitimate role in international politics ...