Faculty & Staff

Dr. M. Chris Mason

Dr. M. Chris Mason joined the faculty at the Strategic Studies Institute as a Professor of National Security Affairs in June 2014. He has worked in and on Afghanistan for the past 15 years. He retired from the Foreign Service in 2005 and worked as the South Asia desk officer for the Marine Corps’ Center for Advanced Operational Culture and Language for several years, where he wrote the Marine Corps deployer’s guide to Afghan culture and the guide to Operational Pashtunwali. He has deployed to and traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan numerous times, beginning in December 2001, serving as the political officer on the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Paktika in 2005. Dr. Mason authored the first paper in the U.S. Government on the Afghan National Army (ANA) in October 2001, and worked for 5 years on ANA, Afghan National Police, and other security issues as the representative of the Bureau of Political Military Affairs to the Afghan Interagency Operations Group. From 1981 to 1986, he served as a regular U.S. Navy Officer on active duty, including tours as the Gunnery Officer on the USS John Young (DD973) and a Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer with 2d Battalion 12th Marines in Okinawa, Japan, and 2d Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company (ANGLICO [Airborne]) at Camp Lejeune, NC. Dr. Mason was a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural development in South America from 1977 to 1979. Dr. Mason trained tens of thousands of deploying American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization military personnel on military and cultural aspects of the war in Afghanistan, and has published widely on Afghanistan and Pakistan in numerous publications over the past 10 years. Dr. Mason holds a bachelor’s degree with Honors from Carnegie Mellon University; graduated with Distinction from the resident Command and General Staff College course at the Marine Corps University, Quantico, VA; holds a master’s degree in military studies from the Marine Corps University, and a Ph.D. in military and Central Asian history from The George Washington University, Washington, DC.

By Department

Director’s Office

Dr. C. Anthony Pfaff – Director of SSI & USAWC Press
Mr. Tom Kardos – Deputy Director
Melissa Holley – Administrative Officer

Strategic Research and Analysis Department (SRAD) & Outreach

COL Eric Hartunian – Director
LTC Paul Milas – Director of African Affairs
Dr. James D. Scudieri – Senior Research Historian
Dr. John R. Deni – Research Professor of JIIM Security Studies
Dr. Evan Ellis – Research Professor of Latin American Studies
Dr. M. Chris Mason – Associate Professor of National Security
Dr. Richard A. Lacquement, Jr. – Research Professor of National Security Affairs
Dr. Ron Gurantz – Research Professor of National Security Affairs
Dr. Michael E. Lynch – Research Associate Professor of the National Security Affairs

China Landpower Studies Center

COL Richard D. Butler – Director
Mr. Joshua Arostegui – Professor of Strategy, Chair of China Studies
Dr. Sheena Greitens – Visiting Associate Professor
Dr. Brian G. Carlson – Research Professor of Indo-Pacific Security Studies
Mr. Richard Gunnell – Research Professor of China Military Studies
Mr. Jake Vartanian – Military Analyst, Landpower and Warfare

USAWC Press

Dr. Antulio J. Echevarria II – Editor in Chief
Ms. Lori K. Janning – Managing Editor/Parameters
Mr. Richard K. Leach – Digital Media Manager
Dr. Erin Forest – Developmental Editor
Ms. Stephanie D. Crider – Copy Editor
Ms. Ellie Foster – Copy Editor
Mrs. Kristen Taylor – Visual Information Specialist/Content Manager
Ms. Kaitlyn Guettler – Visual Information Specialist

Operations and Programs

Vacant– Operations Officer

Alphabetical Listing

A – F

Arostegui, Joshua – China Landpower Studies Center Chair
Butler, COL Richard D. – China Landpower Studies Center Director
Carlson, Dr. Brian G. – Research Professor of Indo-Pacific Security Studies
Crider, Stephanie D. – Copy Editor
Deni, Dr. John R. – Research Professor of JIIM Security Studies
Echevarria II, Dr. Antulio J. – Editor in Chief
Ellis, Dr. Evan – Research Professor of Latin American Studies
Forest, Dr. Erin – Consulting Editor
Foster, Ms. Ellie – Copy Editor

G – J

Greitens, Dr. Sheena – Visiting Associate Professor, China Landpower Studies Center
Guettler, Ms. Kaitlyn – Visual Information Specialist
Gunnell, Richard – Research Professor of China Military Studies
Gurantz, Dr. Ron – Research Professor of National Security Affairs
Hartunian, COL Eric – SRAD Director
Holley, Melissa – Administrative Officer
Janning, Ms. Lori K. – Managing Editor/Parameters

K – O

Kardos, Mr. Tom – Deputy Director
Lacquement, Dr. Richard A., Jr. – Research Professor of National Security Affairs
Leach, Mr. Richard K. – Digital Media Manager
Lynch, Dr. Michael E. – Research Associate Professor of National Security Affairs
Mason, Dr. M. Chris – Associate Professor of National Security
Milas, LTC Paul – Director of African Affairs

P – Z

Pfaff, Dr. C. Anthony – Director of SSI & USAWC Press
Scudieri, Dr. James D.– Senior Research Historian
Taylor, Mrs. Kristen – Visual Information Specialist/Content Manager
Vartanian, Jake – Military Analyst, Landpower and Warfare