I am Associate Professor of Security Studies in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, as well as Non-Resident Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, and Research Affiliate in the Security Studies Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. My work examines nuclear deterrence and escalation, civil-military relations, military strategy and operations, and defense policy, with a particular focus on security issues in Asia and the Persian Gulf. My most recent book is ​The Dictator's Army: Battlefield Effectiveness in Authoritarian Regimes (Cornell University Press, 2015). I am on leave from Georgetown during academic year 2019-2020, writing a book and several articles. Previously, I was a professor at The George Washington University, where I was also a member of the Institute for Security & Conflict Studies.

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Header image:  children playing on a captured M41 in Hue, Vietnam