Leadership
Hon. Mark T. Esper
Distinguished Chair
Dr. Mark T. Esper served as United States secretary of defense from July 2019 to November 2020. From November 2017 to June 2019, he served as secretary of the Army. He is currently the Distinguished Chair of the Modern War Institute at West Point.
Patrick Sullivan
Director
Col. Patrick J. Sullivan, PhD, is a career engineer officer who has commanded at every level from company through brigade, with service in the 10th Mountain Division, 3rd Infantry Division, 82nd Airborne Division, and 20th Engineer Brigade (XVIII Airborne Corps).
Jarrid Johnson
Senior Enlisted Advisor
Sergeant First Class Jarrid Johnson is the senior enlisted advisor for the Modern War Institute at West Point. He is an instructor for MS200 Fundamentals of Small Unit Operations. SFC Johnson is also the non-commissioned officer-in-charge and dive supervisor for the USMA Maritime Assessment Course for cadets attending Special Forces Combat Diver Qualification Course (CDQC).
Glenn Smith
Incoming Senior Enlisted Advisor
Sergeant First Class Glenn Smith is the incoming senior enlisted advisor for the Modern War Institute at West Point. He is an instructor for MS200: Fundamentals of Small Unit Operations. SFC Smith is also the non-commissioned officer-in-charge for the USMA Maritime Assessment Course for cadets attending Special Forces Combat Diver Qualification Course (CDQC).
John Amble
Editor-in-Chief
John Amble is the Editor-in-Chief of the Modern War Institute at West Point. He is a military intelligence officer in the US Army Reserve and a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. He writes on terrorism, intelligence, the military, and the Middle East.
Max Margulies
Chief Reserach Officer
Dr. Max Margulies is MWI’s Chief Research Officer and an Assistant Professor at the Modern War Institute at West Point. He also serves as the course director for the thesis and capstone programs in West Point’s Defense and Strategic Studies program. He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA in Political Science from Columbia University, and a BA in Political Science (Honors) from McGill University.
Full-Time Staff
Charles Faint
Managing Editor
Dr. Charles (Charlie) Faint currently serves as the Managing Editor for MWI, where he also hosts The Spear podcast. A retired military intelligence officer and Yale University graduate, Dr. Faint served in a number of Special Operations units and completed seven combat deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is a coauthor of Violence of Action: The Untold Stories of the 75th Ranger Regiment in the War on Terror and the owner of The Havok Journal.
Robert Payne
Air Force Liaison
Lieutenant Colonel Robert Payne is the Air Force liaison officer within the Modern War Institute. In this capacity he serves as the Department of the Air Force’s Inter-Service Commissioning (both the United States Air Force & United States Space Force) representative to the United States Military Academy. He also serves as a United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) exchange instructor and teaches within the Defense & Strategic Security Studies major.
Joe McGiffin
Logistics Officer
Capt. Joe McGiffin commissioned as a logistics officer from the University of Virginia ROTC program in 2014 with a BA in history. As a lieutenant, he served in the 3rd Infantry Division, providing forward sustainment support to various battalion formations through both resupply and maintenance operations.
Frank Sobchak
Chair of Irregular Warfare Studies
Col. (Ret.) Frank Sobchak, PhD, has taught at the US Military Academy at West Point, the Joint Special Operations University, Tufts University, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He holds a BS in military history from West Point, a MA in Arab studies from Georgetown University, and a PhD in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.
John Spencer
Chair of Urban Warfare Studies
John W. Spencer is the chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute, codirector of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast. A leading expert on military operations in dense urban areas, megacities, and urban and subterranean warfare, he also serves as a colonel in the California State Guard with assignment to the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard as the director of urban warfare training.
Project Directors
Kyle Atwell
Codirector of the Irregular Warfare Initiative
Kyle Atwell is an active duty US Army officer, an instructor in the Social Sciences Department at West Point, and a PhD candidate in security studies at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs. His operational experience includes assignments in North and West Africa, Afghanistan, South Korea, and Germany.
Elizabeth Buchanan
Codirector of Project 6633
Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan is an Australian polar geopolitics expert and codirector of MWI’s Project 6633. Her research interests include Arctic and Antarctic geopolitics, energy security, Russian grand strategy, and strategic studies more broadly. Dr. Buchanan is Head of Research for the Royal Australian Navy. She was formerly a lecturer of strategic studies for the Defence and Strategic Studies Course at the Australian War College.
Ryan Burke
Codirector of Project 6633
Dr. Ryan Burke is an associate professor and curriculum director in the Department of Military & Strategic Studies at the US Air Force Academy and codirector of MWI’s Project 6633. Ryan came to USAFA after completing a Department of Defense–funded postdoctoral fellowship in the University of Delaware’s Joseph R. Biden School of Public Policy and Administration, where he also earned his PhD.
ML Cavanaugh
Codirector of the Shield Notes
Matt Cavanaugh is an active duty US Army strategist with global experience and assignments ranging from the Pentagon to Korea and West Point to the Middle East. He earned his master’s degree at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand and his PhD under Professor Emeritus Colin Gray at the University of Reading (UK). His writings have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, among other outlets.
Jahara Matisek
Codirector of the Shield Notes
Jahara “Franky” Matisek is an active duty officer in the US Air Force, currently serving as an assistant professor in the Department of Military and Strategic Studies at the US Air Force Academy. He is a former C-17 pilot with over 2,000 hours of flight time, to include over 700 hours of combat time, and was a T-6 Instructor Pilot at the prestigious Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot program.
Shawna Sinnott
Codirector of the Irregular Warfare Initiative
Shawna Sinnott is an active duty Marine Corps officer who has served in a variety of operational, staff, policy, and leadership roles across I Marine Expeditionary Force, Special Operations Command, and Headquarters Marine Corps. Her operational deployments have taken her across West Asia, the Arabian Gulf, and East Africa. Shawna holds an AB from Harvard College and an MLitt from the University of St Andrews in the study of terrorism and political violence.
Maggie Smith
Codirector of the Competition in Cyberspace Project
Maggie Smith is a cyber officer assigned to the Army Cyber Institute. She originally enlisted in 2004 to complete her undergraduate education but serving quickly became a passion and turned into a career. She commissioned via ROTC in 2013 after completing her master of public policy (with a focus in homeland security and intelligence policy) at Georgetown University with the US Army’s Green to Gold program.