John Arquilla

Professor of Defence Analysis, US Naval Postgraduate School

John Arquilla is a professor of defence analysis, and a commentator and author on foreign policy strategy. He gained his BA from Rosary College at Dominican University, Illinois in 1975, before working as a surety bond executive for twelve years. He then returned to academia to obtain his MA and PhD in International Relations from Stanford University, where he remained until 1993. He worked at global policy think tank RAND for several years, for whom he now acts as consultant. He has also acted as advisor to former US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld.

In 1993 Arquilla joined the US Naval Postgraduate School, where he worked as a professor and director of the Information Operations Centre. His research and teaching interests include Revolution in Military Affairs, Information-Age Conflict, and Irregular Warfare, and he has written extensively on the future of warfare, arguing in particular for raising the offensive role the US military should play in cyberwar. His books include The Reagan Imprint: Ideas in American Foreign Policy from the Collapse of Communism to the War on Terror (2006), Information Strategy and Warfare (2007), and Worst Enemy: The Reluctant Transformation of the American Military (2008). He also wrote the influential 2010 article “The New Rules of War” for the journal Foreign Policy.