R. Alan King

R. Alan King specializes in 21st-century security matters, counterinsurgency, strategic communications, and Middle Eastern geopolitical issues. He is a retired colonel of the Army Reserve and has been an advisor to both state and defense department leaders. In 2004, he served as a Civil Affairs Battalion commander and the deputy director of the Office of Provincial Outreach, Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad and as a senior member of the ceasefire negotiations in Fallujah.

His book Twice Armed, An American Soldier’s Battle for Hearts and Minds in Iraq received the 2008 William E. Colby Military Writer’s Award for contributions to intelligence operations and international affairs.

King holds degrees from the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Air Force Air War College, Webster University, and East Tennessee State University. He is pursuing his doctorate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.