JAMES JAY CARAFANO, PH.D.

James Jay Carafano is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served 25 years in the US Army, retiring as a Lt. Colonel.  He served in Europe, Korea and the United States. His assignments included head speechwriter for the Army Chief of Staff, the service’s highest-ranking officer. Before retiring, Carafano was executive editor of Joint Force Quarterly, the Defense Department’s premiere professional military journal. 

Carafano is a leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, an accomplished historian and teacher, as well as a prolific writer and researcher. He currently serves as the Heritage Foundation’s Vice President of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy and the E. W. Richardson Fellow.  

 From 2012 to 2014, he served on the Homeland Security Advisory Council convened by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He was formerly a senior fellow at George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute. He also previously served on the congressionally-mandated Advisory Panel on Department of Defense Capabilities for Support of Civil Authorities, the National Academy’s Board on Army Science and Technology, and the Department of the Army Historical Advisory Committee. 

 His recent research has focused on developing the national security required to secure the long-term interests of the United States — protecting the public, providing for economic growth, and preserving civil liberties. 

 Carafano’s most recent book is Wiki at War: Conflict in a Socially Networked World, a survey of the revolutionary impact of the Internet age on national security. He was selected from thousands to speak on cyber warfare at the 2014 South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive Conference in Austin, Texas, the nation’s premier tech and social media conference. 

 He is the co-author with Paul Rosenzweig of Winning the Long War: Lessons from the Cold War for Defeating Terrorism and Preserving Freedom (2005). The authors, first to coin the term “the long war,” argued that a successful strategy requires a balance of prudent military and security measures, continued economic growth, zealous protection of civil liberties, and prevailing in the “war of ideas” against terrorist ideologies. 

 He is editor of a book series, The Changing Face of War, which examines how emerging political, social, economic, and cultural trends will affect the nature of armed conflict. 

Carafano also is president of a nonprofit organization, Esprit de Corps, which educates the public about veteran affairs. In this capacity he co-produced and co-wrote the documentary “Veteran Nation,” an official selection of the 2013 G.I. Film Festival. He helped produce the documentary film “33 Minutes: Protecting America in the New Missile Age.” 

Carafano holds a Master of Arts degree and a doctorate from Georgetown University, as well as a Master of Arts degree in strategy from the U.S. Army War College. 

He is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and other colleges and previously served as an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., and as director of military studies at the Army’s Center of Military History. He was a fleet professor at the U.S. Naval War College. 

As an expert on foreign affairs, defense, intelligence, and homeland security issues, Carafano has testified many times before Congress. He is a regular guest analyst for the major U.S. network and cable television news organizations, from ABC to Fox to MSNBC to PBS, as well as such outlets as National Public Radio, Pajamas TV, Voice of America and the History Channel. From SkyNews to Al Jazeera, he also has appeared on TV news programs originating from all over the world. Carafano’s op-ed columns and commentary are published widely, including the Baltimore Sun, Boston Globe, New York Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, and Washington Times in addition to the Washington Examiner. 

 He serves on the board of trustees of the Marine Corps University Foundation and advisory boards for the West Point Center of Oral History, the Hamilton Society, and Operation Renewed Hope Foundation, which serves homeless veterans. 

 In addition to being a member of DMGS’ adjunct faculty, James Jay Carafano is also a Board of Advisor.