JAMES J. WIRTZ
Dean, School of International Graduate Studies
Professor of National Security Affairs
Director, Global Center for Security Cooperation, Defense Security Cooperation Agency

James J. Wirtz is Dean, School of International Graduate Studies, and Professor in the Department of National Security Affairs, Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California.  He is the Director of the Global Center for Security Cooperation, Defense Security Cooperation Agency.  He is editor of the Palgrave Macmillan series, Initiatives in Strategic Studies: Issues and Policies.

Dean Wirtz joined the Naval Postgraduate School in 1990 after teaching at Franklin & Marshall College, Penn State University and the State University of New York, Binghamton. Between January 2000 and January 2005 he served as the Chair of the Department of National Security Affairs. He is a past president of the International Security and Arms Control Section of the American Political Science Association and the former section chair of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association. In 2005 he was a Visiting Professor at the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University.

Professor Wirtz is the author of The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War (Cornell University Press, 1991, 1994); co-editor with T.V. Paul and Richard Harknett of The Absolute Weapon Revisited: Nuclear Arms and the Emerging International Order (Michigan University Press, 1998, 2000); co-editor with Peter Lavoy and Scott Sagan of Planning the Unthinkable: New Powers and their Doctrines for Using Chemical, Biological and Nuclear Weapons (Cornell University Press, 2000); co-editor with Jeffrey Larsen of Rockets’ Red Glare: National Missile Defense and the Future of World Politics (Westview, 2001) ; co-editor with Roy Godson of Strategic Denial and Deception (Transaction, 2002); co-editor with Eliot Cohen, Colin Gray and John Baylis  of Strategy in the Contemporary World (Oxford, 2002, 2006, 2009); co-editor with Loch Johnson of  Intelligence: Windows Into a Hidden World (Roxberry, 2004l); co-editor with T.V. Paul and Michelle Fortmann of Balance of Power: Theory and Practice in the 21st Century (Stanford: 2004); co-editor with Eric Croddy of the Encyclopedia of Weapons of Mass Destruction (ABC-Clio, 2004);  co-editor with Jeffrey A. Larsen of  Nuclear Transformation: The New U.S. Nuclear

Doctrine (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005); co-editor with Loch Johnson of Intelligence and National Security: The Secret World of Spies (Oxford 2007, 2010); co-editor with James Russell of Globalization and WMD Proliferation: Terrorism, Transnational Networks and International Security (Routledge, 2007); co-editor with Jeffrey Larsen, of Stability from the Sea: Naval Roles in Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Operations (Routledge, 2009); co-editor with Jeffrey Larsen of Arms Control and Cooperative Security (Lynne Rienner,  2009) and co-editor with T.V. Paul and Pat Morgan of Complex Deterrence: Strategy in the Global Age (Chicago, 2009).  His work on intelligence, deterrence, the Vietnam war and military innovation and strategy has been published in Air Power Journal, Annual Review of Political Science, Comparative Strategy, Contemporary Security Policy, Defense Analysis, Harvard International Review, Homeland Security Affairs, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, International Security, International Studies Notes, Joint Forces Quarterly, National Security Studies Quarterly, Orbis, Political Science Quarterly, SAIS Review, Security Studies, Strategic Review, Strategic Survey, Studies in Intelligence, The Nonproliferation Review, Terrorism and Political Violence, and The Journal of Strategic Studies.  He teaches courses on nuclear strategy, international relations theory, and intelligence.  Professor Wirtz is currently working on a monograph, entitled Theory of Surprise and edited volumes on intelligence for homeland security, and the future of proliferation.

A native of New Jersey, Professor Wirtz earned his degrees in Political Science from Columbia University (MPhil 1987, PhD 1989), and the University of Delaware (MA 1983, BA 1980).  In 1985-86 he was a John M. Olin Pre-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for International Affairs, Harvard University.