Eliot A. Cohen is the Robert E. Osgood Professor of Strategic Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University and founding director of the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies there. A graduate of Harvard College, he received his Ph.D. in political science at Harvard in 1982. After teaching at Harvard and at the Naval War College (Department of Strategy) he served on the policy planning staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, coming to SAIS in 1990. His most recent book is Conquered Into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battles along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War (Free Press, 2011), and his other books include Supreme Command: Soldiers, Statesmen, and Leadership in Wartime (Free Press, 2002), and (with John Gooch) Military Misfortunes: The Anatomy of Failure in War. In 1991-93 he directed the US Air Force's official multi-volume study of the 1991 Gulf War, the Gulf War Air Power Survey. He has served as an officer in the United States Army Reserve, and as a member of the Defense Policy Advisory Board of the Office of the Secretary of Defense as well as other government advisory bodies. From 2007 to 2009 he was Counselor of the Department of State, serving as Secretary Condoleeza Rice's senior adviser on strategic issues.
Thomas Keaney is the Associate Director of Strategic Studies, Executive Director of the Merrill Center, and a senior adjunct professor of strategic studies. Before coming to SAIS in 1998, he was for ten years a professor of military strategy at National War College, Washington DC, and director of its core courses on military thought and strategy. A retired colonel in the U.S. Air Force, during his military career he served in positions including: associate professor of history at the U.S. Air Force Academy; planner on the Air Staff; chairman of the department of military strategy at National War College; forward air controller in Vietnam; and B-52 squadron commander. During 1991 and 1992 he was a researcher/author with the Gulf War Air Power Survey. He was co-author of two reports of that survey, The Summary Report and The Effects and Effectiveness of Air Power, and a subsequent book, Revolution in Warfare?: Air Power in the Persian Gulf (with Eliot A. Cohen). Among his recent publications are: US Allies in a Changing World (2001) and Armed Forces in the Middle East, Politics and Strategy (2002) (both ed. with Barry Rubin); War in Iraq: Planning and Operations (2007) (ed. with Thomas Mahnken); and Understanding Counterinsurgency Warfare (2011) (ed. with Thomas Rid). He received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Michigan.
Mark F. Cancian is Chief of the Force Structure and Investment Branch at the Office of Management and Budget. He received his B.A. in History from Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School. Previously he served on various weapons acquisition and analysis staffs in the Pentagon, and as assistant staff director of the Commission on Roles and Missions of the Armed Forces. During a period out of government he ran research and executive education programs as the Assistant Director, National Security Programs, Kennedy School of Government. He also served 34 years (active and reserve) as an infantry and artillery officer in the United States Marine Corps including service in Iraq (two tours), Desert Storm and the evacuation of Vietnam. He is the author of numerous articles on military strategy, history, weapons acquisition, and force structure.
Brady Cusick earned a PhD in cultural anthropology from Boston University in 2005, with a focus on political and psychological anthropology, civil society, and Japan. He was a visiting researcher at Osaka University from 2002–2003 while doing dissertation fieldwork on Japanese civil society and voluntary organizations. This research was funded by a National Security Education Program's David Boren Graduate Fellowship and an earlier language fellowship from the Japan Foundation. While a graduate student, he taught several courses in cultural anthropology at Boston University and was a lecturer on Japanese culture at MIT. He also served as a teaching assistant in Harvard University's Core Curriculum and was awarded a certificate of distinction in teaching by the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning. Since 2004, he has worked to provide cultural perspectives to a variety of government and military agencies.
Ambassador Eric S. Edelman is a visiting scholar at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies and Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Ambassador Edelman retired as a Career Minister from the U.S. Foreign Service on May 1, 2009. He has served in senior positions at the Departments of State and Defense as well as the White House. As the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, he oversaw strategy development as DoD's senior policy official with global responsibility for bilateral defense relations, war plans, special operations forces, homeland defense, missile defense, nuclear weapons and arms control policies, counter-proliferation, counter-narcotics, counter-terrorism, arms sales, and defense trade controls. He served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republics of Finland and Turkey in the Clinton and Bush Administrations and was Principal Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs. In other assignments, he has been Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, special assistant to Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Robert Kimmitt and special assistant to Secretary of State George Shultz. He has been awarded the Department of Defense, Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Presidential Distinguished Service Award, and several Department of State Superior Honor Awards. He received a B.A. in History and Government from Cornell University and a Ph.D. in U.S. Diplomatic History from Yale University.
Mary R. Habeck is an Associate Professor in Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where she teaches courses on military history and strategic thought. Before coming to SAIS, Dr. Habeck taught American and European military history in Yale's history department, 1994-2005. Dr Habeck was appointed by President Bush to the Council on the Humanities at the National Endowment for the Humanities (2006-2012), and in 2008-2009 she was the Special Advisor for Strategic Planning on the National Security Council staff. In addition to books and articles on doctrine, World War I, the Spanish Civil War, and al-Qa'ida, her publications include Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror (Yale, 2005) and two forthcoming sequels, Attacking America: How Salafi Jihadis Are Fighting Their 200-Year War with the U.S. (2011) and Fighting the Enemy: The U.S. and its War against the Salafi Jihadis (2013).
Forrest Hare is a Colonel in the United States Air Force assigned to the National Security Agency as a Deputy Global Capabilities Manager for the Pacific region. He was recently deployed to CJTF-Horn of Africa as Chief of the Information Operations and Special Technical Operations Division. Col Hare is also qualified as a foreign area officer with a western European designation. Col Hare was born on 11 February 1968, in Woodstock, Illinois. Upon graduating from the United States Air Force Academy, in June 1990, he was awarded a Swiss University Grant to attend the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Col Hare then returned to the United States to complete his MA degree in Regional Economic Development at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Upon completing Intelligence Officer Training at Goodfellow AFB, TX, he volunteered for a remote assignment to the 7th Air Intelligence Squadron, Osan AB, ROK. During this assignment he was active in the development and update of plans for the defense of South Korea. After a year in Osan, Col Hare volunteered to deploy to Operation Provide Comfort for four months at Incirlik AB, Turkey to serve in the Intelligence Directorate of the Combined Staff. Upon completing the deployment, he returned to Pacific Air Forces to serve as the Targeting Intelligence Officer In Charge (OIC) of the 35th Fighter Wing, Misawa AB, Japan. While stationed at Misawa, Col Hare was selected by the 5 Air Force Senior Intelligence Officer to represent 5 AF at the 4404th Composite Wing, Prince Sultan AB, Saudi Arabia, as the OIC of the Target Intelligence Section, from Nov 96-Feb 97. In November 1997, he prepared for an assignment as a Geography Instructor back at the United States Air Force Academy. At the Academy, he was responsible for instructing over 200 cadets in World Regional Geography, as well as a number of other geography and economics classes to include Economics of Development. In January 2001, Col Forrest Hare became the first commander of Detachment 3, 26 Information Operations Group, Ramstein AB, Germany. The unit provided Joint/Combined Air Operations Center (J/CAOC) planning and IO employment capability to European Command during Operation Enduring Freedom and conducted preparations for Operation Iraqi Freedom before Col Hare's departure in December, 2002. In January of 2003, Col Hare returned to Korea to serve on the Combined Forces Command staff as chief of Theater Targeting Policy. Col Hare transitioned to Intelligence Plans to lead the first-ever Intelligence Campaign Planning (ICP) effort for the Korean theater. His efforts helped establish ICP procedures for several other operation plans world-wide and earned him the Army's prestigious Knowlton Award for Military Intelligence. In his next assignment on the Air Staff Operations Directorate, Col Hare was chosen to be on the Chief's Cyberspace Task Force to develop the vision for the Service's operations in it's new warfighting domain. His work contributed to the stand-up of the 24th Air Force and the creation of new cyberspace doctrine. Col Hare is married to the former MiSuk Song, of Geosong, Republic of Korea. They have two children; Diana age 13, and Benjamin age 10.
Seth G. Jones is Associate Director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He most recently served as the representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations. Before that, he served as a plans officer and advisor to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command-Afghanistan). Jones is the author of "Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida since 9/11" (W.W. Norton, 2012) and "In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan" (W. W. Norton), which won the 2010 Council on Foreign Relations Silver Medal for Best Book of the Year. He is also the author of "The Rise of European Security Cooperation" (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He has published articles in a range of journals, such as International Security, Foreign Affairs, and Foreign Policy, as well as in such newspapers and magazines as the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Jones received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
Mara E. Karlin is currently an Instructor and Ph.D candidate in Strategic Studies at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). Previously, she served in a variety of policy positions in the U.S. Defense Department, including Levant Director and Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. As Levant Director, she was intimately involved in formulating U.S. policy on Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Israel-Palestinian affairs. As Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, she helped coordinate the Under Secretary's workload and facilitated his efforts on hundreds of national security-related actions. In connection with her work at the Pentagon, she received the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Award. She serves as an occasional consultant to the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, and her writing has been published in various publications. She received her B.A. summa cum laude from Newcomb College, Tulane University, and her M.A. with distinction from Johns Hopkins University-SAIS in Middle East Studies, Strategic Studies, and International Economics.
Thomas Mahnken is a Visiting Scholar at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies, a Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College, and a Senior Fellow at the Institute for Defense Analyses. From 2006 to 2009, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning. Between 1997 and 2006, he served as a Professor of Strategy at the U.S. Naval War College. From 2004 to 2006 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Merrill Center at SAIS. During the 2003-04 academic year he served as the Acting Director of the SAIS Strategic Studies Program. He served on the staff of the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction, in the Defense Department's Office of Net Assessment, and as a member of the Gulf War Air Power Survey. His most recent book is Technology and the American Way of War Since 1945 (Columbia University Press, 2008). He holds a MA and Ph.D. in international affairs from SAIS and BA degrees in history and international relations (with highest honors) from the University of Southern California. He is a recipient of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.
John E. McLaughlin is a Professorial Lecturer and SAIS Distinguished Practitioner in Residence of the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies. Mr. McLaughlin, who recently retired as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence, will present seminars on intelligence and policy, participate in strategic studies courses involving intelligence analysis, in general join in Merrill Center activities. He will be available to consult with students who wish to learn more about the intelligence career field. Mr. McLaughlin had served in the Central Intelligence Agency since 1972. In that time, he was a member of the Directorate of Intelligence on European, Russian, and Eurasian affairs, served a tour in the state Department, and founded the Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis, an institution dedicated to teaching the history, mission, and essential skills of the analytic profession to new CIA employees. He had been the Deputy Director of Central Intelligence since 2000, during which time he represented the Intelligence Community at meetings of the National Security Council Deputies Committee, in briefings with the President, and at hearings on Capitol Hill. He served as Acting Director of Central Intelligence from July to September 2004. Mr. McLaughlin is a SAIS graduate with a specialty in European Affairs, studying both in Washington and at the Bologna campus.
Paula Thornhill directs RAND's Project Air Force Strategy and Doctrine Program. This program provides analytical support to the U.S. Air Force on politico-military, strategic, and planning issues. She joined RAND in September 2009 after retiring from the US Air Force as a brigadier general. Her last assignment was as the Commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base (2006-09). Just prior to her time as Commandant, she was the Principal Director for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). She also served as the Dean of Faculty and Academic Programs at the National War College, and she was special assistant to the 15th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In addition, she has been assigned to the U.S. Air Force Academy, U.S. Strategic Command, the Air Staff and the Requirements and Plans Directorate in OSD. She holds a B.S. from the U.S. Air Force Academy, an M.A. in history from Stanford University, and a D.Phil. in history from Oxford University.
Other SAIS faculty, including Professors Ruth Wedgwood, Jakub Grygiel, Kent Calder, Peter Bergen, William Wise, Ashley Tellis, Justin Vaisse, Herbet Okun, and Ben Ougrham teach courses related to Strategic Studies in areas including international law, terrorism in South Asia, European security, WMD in Russia, and the politics of forward deployment.