CNA Strategic Studies
Rear Admiral Michael McDevitt, U.S. Navy (ret.) is Vice President and Director of CNA Strategic Studies, a division of CNA – a not-for-profit federally funded research center in Washington, DC. CNA Strategic Studies conducts research and analyses that focus on strategy, political-military issues and regional security studies. The Division has a 10 year history of strong Asian security research along with well established teams that focus on the Middle East, Iran, Insurgency /stability operations and long range strategic planning.
During his navy career, Rear Admiral McDevitt held four at-sea commands; including an aircraft carrier battlegroup. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in U.S. History from the University of Southern California and a Masters Degree in American Diplomatic History from Georgetown University. He is also a graduate of the National War College in Washington, DC.
He was the Director of the East Asia Policy office for the Secretary of Defense during the George H.W. Bush Administration. He also served for two years as the Director for Strategy, War Plans and Policy (J-5) for US CINCPAC. Rear Admiral McDevitt concluded his 34 year active duty career as the Commandant of the National War College in Washington, DC.
In addition to his responsibilities leading CNA Strategic Studies, he has been an active participant in conferences and workshops regarding security issues in East Asia, and has had a number of papers published in edited volumes on this subject. His most recent research focus has been the maritime dimension of China's national strategy.
International Affairs Group
Dr. Eric V. Thompson is the director of the International Affairs Group (IAG) within the Center for Naval Analyses, where he also leads CNA's Middle East/South Asia program. As a Middle East political and military affairs specialist, Dr. Thompson has traveled extensively in North Africa, the Persian Gulf, and the Levant, working closely with U.S. and regional military and civilian leadership. His most recent work has addressed counterterrorism operations, security cooperation activities, military-to-military relations with Egypt, interoperability with Turkish and Algerian maritime forces, and coalition building for military operations in the CENTCOM region. Dr. Thompson's research and analysis extends beyond the Middle East. He has led studies addressing interoperability with NATO navies, global force structure requirements, the implications of the deployment of theater ballistic missile defense systems, the use of distance learning technology in preparing for coalition operations, the effectiveness of Partnership for Peace programs, and future security cooperation priorities for the U.S. military.
Dr. Thompson is also an adjunct professor at Catholic University of America, where he teaches graduate classes on terrorism and other national security issues. Prior to joining CNA, he was an adjunct professor of international relations and history at the Virginia Military Institute, where he taught courses in Middle East history, international relations and American government, and served as the director of the Model Arab League program.
Patricio Asfura-Heim, Esq. is a Research Analyst in the International Affairs Group at CNA. Mr. Asfura-Heim’s research interests include irregular warfare, human terrain mapping, partner capacity building, and comparative and international law. From July to December 2007, he served as an advisor to II MEF in Fallujah, Iraq where he conducted an assessment of tribal customary law, as well as developed metrics for measuring economic and governance progress in Al Anbar Province. Prior to joining the CNA, Mr. Asfura-Heim interned at the State Department's Intelligence and Research Bureau and spent time in Istanbul studying the Turkish legal and political system. In addition he has several years of experience working in mediation for city government. Mr. Asfura-Heim holds a Juris Doctor and a Master in World Politics from Catholic University of America. He is a member of the Washington D.C. Bar.
Dr. Willie E. Cobble, Jr. is a Research Analyst at CNA, and a specialist on Western European defense industrial collaboration and Western European political integration. Dr. Cobble's studies at the Center have focused upon naval international collaborative procurement, improving interoperability between the United States Navy and its Euro-Atlantic partners, and USN crisis response issues. He has also worked extensively on LHA/LHD alternate operational concepts, USN counterproliferation approaches, and on United States grand strategy. He received his Ph.D. in government from Cornell University.
Ms. Mary Ellen Connell is a Research Analyst for the Center for Strategic Studies. Prior to joining CNA in 2001, Ms. Connell was a Counselor in the United States Senior Foreign Service. For the past several years she has directed the CNA "Commanders' Series: Workshops on Geopolitical Interest to the U.S. Navy" and a regional strategic analysis project supporting the Commander and Deputy Commander, Naval Forces Europe. Beginning in 2007, she was also asked to direct similar projects for the Navy Criminal Investigative Service on national security issues and for the U.S. Central Command on regional topics. Ms. Connell holds a BA degree from Smith College and an M. Phil. from the University of Kansas. She is a graduate of the U.S. National War College and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (UK).
Dr. Michael Connell is the director of Project Iran and a research analyst in the International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses. Since coming to CNA, Dr. Connell has directed and authored several studies that examine Iranian military and national security issues. His most recent work focuses on Iran-GCC relations and the IRGC's ascendancy in Iran's decision making apparatus. Dr. Connell also served as CNA's field representative to NAVCENT, Bahrain. Prior to joining CNA, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army and was deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Dr. Connell earned his Ph.D. in Iranian history from Harvard University. He also has a certificate in Persian studies from Tehran University.
Dr. Ralph Espach is a Research Analyst in the International Affairs Group. His research at CNA focuses on inter-American political and security relations, and on partnership within Latin America and developing states in general. In recent projects he has assessed strategic decision making within the Venezuelan government, and has applied media content and tone analysis to estimate the attitudinal effects of humanitarian engagement missions in Latin America, West Africa, and Southeast Asia. Dr. Espach also has expertise in global environmental politics and international political economics. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese and has extensive experience conducting research across Latin America. Dr. Espach joined CNA in April 2007, after completing his Ph.D. work in political science at the University of California, Berkeley, and teaching international political economics at Seattle University. Prior to his graduate school work, he worked as Program Assistant at the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center, where he led the Brazil Project and focused on issues of inter-American security. Dr. Espach has co-edited four books: The Strategic Dynamics of Latin American Trade (with Vinod K. Aggarwal, 2004), Latin America in the New International System (with Joseph S. Tulchin, 2000), Combating Corruption in Latin America (with Joseph S. Tulchin, 2000), and Security in the Caribbean Basin: the Challenge of Regional Cooperation (with Joseph S. Tulchin and Francisco Rojas, 2000).
Mr. Ken Gause is a Research Analyst at CNA and the director of the Foreign Leadership Studies Program (FSLP) at the Center for Naval Analyses. The FSLP is dedicated to providing analysis on regimes of interest and how they make decisions, primarily for the U.S. government. Mr. Gause's work in leadership analysis dates back to the early 1980s with his work on the Soviet Union for the U.S. government. More recently, his work has focused on such regimes as Iran, North Korea, Iraq, and Syria. Mr. Gause has published numerous articles on leadership structures for such publications as Jane's Intelligence Review, Jane's Defense Weekly, RUSI's China Military Update, SP Military Yearbook (India's premier defense journal), Keesing's International, and The Worldwide Government Report. He received his MA in Soviet and East European Affairs from George Washington University and studied Russian at Middlebury College.
Dr. Dmitry P. Gorenburg is a Research Analyst in the International Affairs Groups. His main focus at CNA has been on foreign policy analysis of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He has worked on other projects, included a critical review of the Navy's Personnel Exchange Program, focusing particularly on the program's limitations due to U.S. national policy on disclosure to foreign nationals. He has also analyzed patterns of U.S. military responses to crisis situations around the world. Recently, he has focused on the future of U.S. security strategy and the most likely threats to U.S. security in the coming twenty years. Dr. Gorenburg received his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from Harvard University, and A.B. from the Wilson School of International & Public Affairs at Princeton University.
Ms. Melissa K. Henton is a Research Analyst in the International Affairs Group. From 2007-2008, Melissa will be serving as an IPA in the Office of the Secretary of Defense/Global Security Affairs at the Department of Defense. Since coming to CNA in March of 2000, Ms. Henton has conducted research and analysis on a variety of issues such as strike warfare, NATO TBMD, foreign reactions to USN force protection measures, Polish naval capabilities, and DOD engagement activities in Southeastern Europe. Ms. Henton served as Field Representative to Commander Enterprise Carrier Strike Group from April 2003 to September 2004, conducting analysis of air wing support for OIF and OEF. Her previous CNA assignments include Scientific Analyst to the Director, Operations, Plans, and Politico-Military Affairs Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and as a military analyst assigned to the U.S. Department of State during in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Ms. Henton's prior experience includes two years as an arms control analyst with DynCorp and seven years at the Atlantic Council of the United States, serving as Director for the Council's project on Civil-Military Relations, and later as Director of the Council's Planning Office. Ms. Henton holds an MA in security policy studies from George Washington University and a BA in political science and history from Creighton University.
Dr. Henry J. (Hank) Kenny is a Research Analyst at CNA, where he has directed projects for the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and the Pacific Command for the past 13 years. A Company Commander, Special Forces Team Commander, and Province Advisor in Vietnam, he directed Special Forces mission training for Vietnam at Ft. Bragg. Wounded during the Tet Offensive of 1968, he subsequently taught international relations at West Point, graduate courses on causes of war and theories of conflict resolution at American University and George Washington University, and international politics at the Institute for International Relations in Hanoi. He has served with the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, the American Embassy Tokyo (Special Assistant to Mike Mansfield), and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He is the author of "Unfinished Business in Afghanistan," "Smaller, Faster, Smarter: Retooling the Military to Combat Terrorist Threats," "Strengthening and Embattled Nation: A Strategy for Contenting with the Three Wars in Iraq," The American Role in Vietnam and East Asia, and other publications. His latest book, Shadow of the Dragon, analyzes the relationship between China and Vietnam and its implications for U.S. policy in Asia.
Mr. Michael C. Markowitz is a Senior Research Specialist. At CNA, Mr. Markowitz has designed, developed, tested and evaluated wargames for such sponsors as DARPA, the Naval War College, NAVCENT, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the CNO's Strategic Studies Group. His research interests include the design of analytic graphics and cartography, wargaming 21st century conflict, and the history of military applications of science and technology. Prior to joining CNA, he worked for many years in the aerospace industry as a technical writer and trainer on a variety of defense programs. He has taught college courses in basic statistics, research design, and social science theory. His published work includes journal articles on ancient history, hundreds of game reviews, and several award-winning tabletop wargames. He graduated from the University of Rochester with a BA in History, and the University of California, Irvine with an MA in Social Ecology. Mr. Markowitz's reading languages include Russian and Latin.
Ms. Julia Voelker McQuaid is a Research Analyst in the International Affairs Group. Her work at CNA has focused on building partner capacity in Africa— particularly in the Gulf of Guinea—security cooperation/TSC, maritime security, counterterrorism, and strategic communications. Before joining CNA, she worked at the Middle East Institute as an editor on the Middle East Journal, a scholarly publication focusing on the politics and history of the Middle East and North Africa. Julia has also worked as a contractor for the National Defense University's Africa Center for Strategic Studies. She has lived and traveled in Morocco, at one point as part of a team conducting an assessment of the electoral process in that country as part of the Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI). Ms. McQuaid's personal research interests include Arab political/military affairs, the Maghreb, terrorism and terrorist organizations, and political Islam. She speaks French and Arabic. Ms. McQuaid holds an MA from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies and a BA in Political Science and French from Franklin & Marshall College.
Mr. Bronson Percival, currently a Senior Advisor with the Center for Strategic Studies at CNA, is a respected specialist on Southeast Asia, terrorism, and maritime security. During his career as a U.S. Foreign Service Officer, he reported on political and security issues from Lebanon to Indonesia. After teaching at the U.S. Naval War College, he returned to the State Department to lead the Southeast Asia Division in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research and then coordinate counter-terrorism programs and policies in the East Asia Bureau. Percival's most recent book, The Dragon Looks South: China and Southeast Asia in the New Century (Westport, Conn: Praeger Security International, 2007), analyses China's goals and objectives in Southeast Asia, the region's response to China's initiatives, and the implications for U.S. interests. He holds an A.B. in International Relations from the University of California—Berkeley, an M.S. from the National War College, and completed course work and research in India for the University of Chicago's Ph.D. program before entering the Foreign Service.
Mr. Patrick H. Roth is a Research Analyst in the International Affairs Group. He has extensive experience in defense, intra-governmental, joint and inter-service affairs and liaison with foreign governments, including over twenty years practical experience in development of defense engagement activities, especially in the Pacific East Asia region and the Western Hemisphere. Since joining CNA he has led or participated in studies related to future requirements for U.S. Navy international operative engagement including assessing interoperability requirements. He was a senior participant in studies related to Coast Guard future direction including authorship of a study on Coast Guard purpose and ethos. These recommendations became a basis for Coast Guard Publication One. He has also directed or participated in studies related to staffing and organization, foreign disclosure issues, establishing Navy activities abroad, and deployment analyses. Mr. Roth holds the degree of Master of Public Administration (Public Policy) from the University of Washington. He is a recognized authority on the history of U.S. Navy in Latin America. His latest monograph, on the U.S. Navy's South Atlantic Station, is currently being translated for publication in Uruguay.
Ms. Alison C. Russell is a Research Analyst and a specialist in Middle Eastern political-military affairs and maritime issues. Her Middle East research interests include leadership analysis of Middle Eastern regimes, terrorism, and political-social developments in the region. Her naval research topics include maritime theater security cooperation, joint interoperability, strategic communication, and the development of the Navy's community of regional and area specialists. Prior to joining CNA, Ms. Russell lived and studied in Syria, Morocco, and France, where she gained valuable Arabic and French language skills and practical on-the-ground experience. Ms. Russell graduated from Boston College, where she majored in Political Science and French Literature. She also earned an MA in International Relations from American University. She is also an alumna of the Arabic Teaching Institute in Damascus and Middlebury College Arabic Language School's Intensive Immersion Program.
Ms. Lesley Anne Warner is an Associate Research Analyst in the International Affairs Group. Prior to joining CNA, she was a Writer/Editor at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. Ms. Warner previously worked at the RAND Corporation, where she worked on Department of Defense sponsored projects on counterinsurgency, security sector reform, weak/ failed states and nation-building. In addition, she was the lead author of "Money in the Bank: Lessons Learned from Past Counterinsurgency (COIN) Operations" (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2007). Between 2007 and 2008, Ms. Warner was a member of a RAND-AAD panel which published a summary of recommendations for the next presidential administration entitled "Integrating Instruments of Power and Influence: Lessons Learned and Best Practices" (Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2008). Ms. Warner holds a B.A. in International Relations from Carleton College and will complete her M.A. in Security Studies from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in May 2009. Ms. Warner's language abilities include Arabic, Portuguese, French, and Spanish.
Stability and Development Program
LTC James A. Gavrilis (USA, ret.) is a senior advisor in the Stability and Development Program within CNA Strategic Studies. LTC Gavrilis is a former U.S. Army Special Forces officer with over 24 years of experience in the infantry and special operations. He has served overseas in Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East in training, peacekeeping, and combat operations. He has commanded and directed operations in the field focused on urban unconventional warfare, counter-terrorism, counter-insurgency, and counter-proliferation in Iraq and in other parts of the Middle East. LTC Gavrilis also served in the Pentagon and was responsible for the formulation of senior-level political-military operational analysis, policy, and strategy for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Combatant Commanders, and Service Staffs. He served as the interagency representative and coordinator, and routinely worked with counterparts in the National Security Council, the Departments of State, Justice, and Treasury, and the Intelligence community. LTC Gavrilis is a resident Graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He has an M.A. in International Studies from Old Dominion University and a B.A. in Political Science from the Pennsylvania State University. He is also an adjunct professor at both Georgetown University and George Washington University, and teaches counter-insurgency to Iraq provincial reconstruction team members at the Department of State's Foreign Service Institute. His publications include "A Model for Population-Centered Warfare," Small Wars Journal, May 2009, "Army Must Embrace Unconventional Fight," National Defense, August 2007, "Army Must Address Irregular Warfare Needs," National Defense, March 2006, and "The Mayor of Ar Rutbah," Foreign Policy, November-December 2005.
Ms. Megan Katt s a Research Specialist for the Stability and Development Program. Her areas of academic interest include counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, ethnic and religious conflict, and the psychological dimensions of conflict. Prior to joining CNA, Ms. Katt supported research on international security and national defense issues at the RAND Corporation where she focused on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and counterterrorism. Ms. Katt holds a B.S. in business marketing from San Diego State University and an M.A. in international security studies from Georgetown University.
Dr. Carter Malkasian is currently on a leave of absence to work with the Department of State. In 2007 and 2008, he led a team that advised Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) in eastern Afghanistan. Previously assigned to the I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF) as an advisor on counterinsurgency, he deployed for the war in Iraq from February to May 2003, February 2004 to February 2005, and February 2006 to August 2006. Most of that time was spent in Al Anbar province. Dr. Malkasian's most recent publication is a co-edited book (with Daniel Marston of Royal Military Academy Sandhurst), Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare. His other books include: A History of Modern Wars of Attrition (2002) and The Korean War, 1950-1953 (2001). His journal publications include: "Did the Coalition Need More Forces in Iraq? Evidence from Al Anbar" in Joint Force Quarterly "A Thin Blue Line in the Sand" in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas; "Signaling Resolve, Democratization, and the First Battle of Fallujah" in the Journal of Strategic Studies; "The Role of Perceptions and Political Reform in Counterinsurgency" in Small Wars & Insurgencies; and "Toward a Better Understanding of Attrition" in the Journal of Military History. Dr. Malkasian completed his doctorate in the history of war at Oxford University.
Dr. Jerry Meyerle is a Research Analyst in the Stability and Development Program. He is the author of several widely read studies on the insurgency in Afghanistan for the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as published articles on regional security and political violence in Pakistan and India. He is a frequent speaker on these issues at conferences, seminars, and briefing sessions to deploying units. Dr. Meyerle has also served on Afghanistan and Pakistan policy reviews for U.S. Central Command. In 2008, he was an advisor to the commander of the Kunar Provincial Reconstruction Team in eastern Afghanistan where he worked on Pakistan border issues. Before coming to CNA, he was an adjunct professor at the University of Virginia where he taught courses on counterinsurgency and guerrilla warfare. He speaks Urdu, and has a PhD in Political Science and South Asian Studies from the University of Virginia.
Dr. William Rosenau is a Research Analyst in theStability and Development Program. He is also an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. Before joining CNA, he served in the RAND Corporation’s International Security Policy department; as a policy adviser to the coordinator for counterterrorism, US Department of State; and as a special assistant to the assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict. His publications include (with Peter Chalk and Angel Rabasa) The Evolving Dynamic of Terrorism in Southeast Asia: A Net Assessment(RAND, 2009); (with Lindsay Clutterbuck) “Subversion as a Facet of Terrorism and Insurgency: The Case for a Twenty-First Century Approach,” Strategic Insights, August 2009; (with Austin Long) The Phoenix Program and Contemporary Counterinsurgency (RAND, 2009); (with Peter Chalk, et al.) Corporations and Counterinsurgency (RAND, 2009); Subversion and Insurgency (RAND, 2008); and US Internal Security Assistance to South Vietnam: Insurgency, Subversion, and Public Order (Routledge, 2005). His degrees are from Columbia (A.B.), Cambridge (M.A.), and King's College, London (Ph.D.).
Mr. Lonn Waters is an Associate Research Analyst in the Stability and Development Program. Prior to joining CNA, he served as a Presidential Management Fellow with Joint Forces Command. During his time at JFCOM, he analyzed the Department of Defense disaster response to Hurricane Katrina, deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan on lessons learned collection teams (focusing primarily on counter- IED analysis), and worked as a Special Assistant to the Commander of JFCOM. Additionally, Mr. Waters helped develop a new initiative for the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC) and worked in the Joint Staff J5 where he contributed to the Joint Strategy Review, National Military Strategy and the revision to the Joint Strategic Planning System. Most recently he focused on Department of Defense joint and interagency training requirements. Mr. Waters holds a B.A. political science from Princeton University and an M.S. in political science from MIT.
Strategic Initiatives Group
Dr. Thomas Bowditch is a senior research analyst and the director of the Strategic Initiatives Group (SIG) at CNA. He recently returned from the Pacific Command where he was a special assistant for the Commander in Chief, USPACOM working on the Pacific Command's input to the Integrated Global Presence and Basing Strategy (IGPBS). During the summer of 2007, Dr. Bowditch was temporarily assigned to the Commander, U.S. Central Command in Tampa where he completed a special project for the commander on strategic options for the way ahead in Iraq. This assignment required several trips to Iraq where Dr. Bowditch visited the major U.S. commands and had multi-level discussions with American and Iraqi commanders. Earlier in Operation Enduring Freedom, Dr. Bowditch was in the Persian Gulf and Afghanistan during the first half of 2002 providing analytical support to the Marine Corps Combat Assessment Team. Dr. Bowditch has done operational research for both the Marine Corps and Navy over the past several years, including considerable work analyzing the roles and missions naval forces in light of changes in the global security environment. He has also done considerable work in the area of Command and Control (C2), the dynamics of headquarters staff architecture, and the evolution of command relationship architectures. Dr. Bowditch received his Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Virginia, holds two masters degrees from UVA and the Naval War College, and received his B.A. from Bates College.
Mr. Seth Cropsey is currently a Senior Advisor for Maritime Strategy at CNA as well as an Adjunct Fellow at the Hudson Institute. He is Contributing Editor at Armed Forces Journal. He served as deputy Under Secretary of the Navy from 1984 to 1989. After the Navy secretariat, he became principal deputy assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict. Subsequently, and as director of the Heritage Foundation's Asia Studies Center, he researched and published on U.S. policy toward Asia. Beginning with its first class in 1994, Mr. Cropsey taught at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies as department chairman and distinguished professor. He is the author of a monograph on defense export controls published by the American Enterprise Institute Press, and served from 2002 to 2005 as the Senate-confirmed director of the U.S. government's International Broadcasting Bureau, responsible for the Voice of America, Radio and Television Marti, and the transmission of all civilian U.S. government international broadcasts. His articles on strategy, national security, special operations, and defense organization have appeared in Proceedings, the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, National Interest, The Weekly Standard , Washington Times, and Armed Forces Journal. Mr. Cropsey received his B.A. from St. Johns College, and M.A. from Boston College. He served as an officer in the Naval Reserve from 1985 until 2004.
Mr. Brian J. Ellison is an Associate Research Analyst with the Strategic Initiatives Group. His research interests include strategic concepts, irregular warfare, energy security and Russian political-military affairs. He has worked on projects concerning defense planning, defense energy policy and Russian military issues, among others. Prior to joining CNA, Mr. Ellison worked for the World Security Institute. He has published articles on U.S. strategic issues in the Journal of International Service, the Defense Monitor and for the Center for Defense Information. He was a graduate fellow with the American University's Center for Teaching Excellence. He graduated with an MA in international affairs from the American University's School of International Service. His master's thesis, "Conventionally Planning Irregular Futures," was on the institutionalization of counterinsurgency capabilities in Army force planning for the future.
Mr. Michael S. Gerson is an Associate Research Analyst in the Strategic Initiatives Group. His research focuses on nuclear and conventional deterrence, nuclear proliferation, arms control, international relations theory, diplomatic history, and military strategy. Since joining CNA in September 2006, he participated in the conceptual development of the U.S. Navy's new Maritime Strategy, entitled, "A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower," and regularly provides research and analysis on nuclear/conventional deterrence and WMD proliferation to Navy leadership. He received a B.A. in History from the University of Texas and an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago.
Mr. Kenneth A. Huffman is currently a Senior Advisor at CNA and Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States. Previously he was a member of the Senior Executive Service with over nineteen years of experience in political-military matters at senior levels of the U.S. Government. During this period he represented the U.S. in NATO negotiations on security and operational issues, including Central Asia and the Balkans, development of a European Security and Defense Policy, establishment of a verification regime for the Conventional Forces Europe Treaty, and adaptation of NATO crisis management procedures after the end of the Cold War. He was also responsible for all operational and policy aspects of NATO matters relating to U.S. and NATO forces, intelligence, exercises and crisis management. Mr. Huffman has an additional seven years of hands-on operational experience in command, control and communications planning, analysis and project management, as well as twenty years in operational billets as a U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Officer. Mr. Huffman received a B.A. in Mathematics from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, in 1963, and a M.S. degree in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California, in 1968.
Rear Admiral Jim Stark is currently a senior advisor with the CNA as well as an independent consultant with The Spectrum Group of Alexandria, Virginia. Previously, he was based in London as Marketing Vice President for Europe with Northrop Grumman Electronic Systems International. In that capacity, he was responsible for identifying and pursuing new military and commercial business opportunities throughout the European region, coordinating with government and private customers, evaluating potential partners and teammates, and supporting operations of the corporation’s European subsidiaries. Prior to joining private industry, Admiral Stark completed a 33-year career in the U.S. Navy as President of the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, providing graduate level professional military education for over six hundred U.S. and international resident students annually in addition to a large non-resident program. A surface warfare officer, Admiral Stark commanded the NATO Standing Naval Force Atlantic, directing its operations in support of the United Nations embargo of Serbia and Bosnia. In that role, he commanded forces from throughout NATO and the European Union in addition to U.S. Navy units. Admiral Stark also served as Commander of the Pacific Fleet Training Command, in charge of technical and operational training throughout the Pacific Fleet. Additionally, he has an extensive background in political-military policy and planning, having served in this area on both the National Security Council and the Navy Staff. He commanded USS Leahy (CG 16) and USS Julius A. Furer (FFG 6). Admiral Stark holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Naval Academy. He attended the University of Vienna as a Fulbright Scholar and holds two Masters Degrees and a Doctoral Degree in Political Science from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University.
Captain Peter M. Swartz, U.S. Navy (Retired) has been a strategy and policy research analyst and manager at CNA since 1993, directing or contributing significantly to studies on maritime strategy; NATO relationships; riverine operations; counter-piracy operations; force protection; strategic concept development; deployment strategy; homeland defense; combatant command component relationships; multinational doctrine; and operations other than war. He also directed a study on U.S. Coast Guard international operations, and serves as CNA's advisor to the Strategy and Policy Division (N51) on the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations. During his Navy career, he served in senior military and diplomatic staff positions in the United States and overseas. He was Special Assistant to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell during the first Gulf War, and Director of Defense Operations at the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels during the Warsaw Pact collapse. During the 1980s, he was a principal author of the Reagan Administration's Maritime Strategy. Earlier he served two wartime tours advising the Vietnamese Navy, and was an instructor and course director in naval counter-insurgency. He has taught graduate-level courses and classes at George Washington and Cornell Universities; authored numerous journal articles and book chapters; and lectured at military and civilian colleges and universities. He holds a B.A. from Brown University, an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and an M.Phil from Columbia University.
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