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Full-time Faculty

Tom Griffith

Tom Griffith

Professor of the Practice of International Affairs

Director, Department of Defense National Security Studies Program

1957 E Street, NW Suite 601

Washington, D.C. 20052

Phone: (202) 994-5340
Fax: (202) 994-7761
E-mail: tgriff@gwu.edu

Education:

Ph.D., University of North Carolina

Expertise:

Modern military history (1900 to present), contemporary defense policy, national security and airpower history

Background:

Dr. Thomas E. Griffith, Jr. joined the Elliott School as Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and Director, Department of Defense National Security Studies Program in September 2008.

Prior to coming to the Elliott School, Dr. Griffith had a distinguished 30-year career in the United States Air Force, serving most recently as Dean of Faculty at the National War College. During his previous flying assignments, he amassed over 2,000 hours in the F-4 and the F-15E and flew in the initial air strikes of Desert Storm. He was later shot down and evaded Iraqi forces for two days before being captured and held as a prisoner for the remainder of the war. Among his other assignments, he also served in the Air Force Chief of Staff's Operations Group, as a special assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as a group commander, and as the head of the Air Force's School of Advanced Air and Space Studies.

Dr. Griffith has published articles on targeting strategies and the use of force, the use of airpower in Afghanistan, and military innovation. He is the author of MacArthur's Airman: General George C. Kenney and the War in the Southwest Pacific. His research interests also include the use of private military forces and changes in modern warfare

Last update: 11/21/2008