J. Michael Waller
Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor of International Communication
Professional Experience
Dr. Waller holds the Walter and Leonore Annenberg Chair in International Communication, and directs the Institute's graduate programs on public diplomacy and political warfare.
He has been a scholar-practitioner in public diplomacy, political warfare, psychological operations and information operations in support of US foreign and military policy for 25 years. He was a member of the staff of the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, served on the White House Task Force on Central America, and has been a consultant to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the US Information Agency, the US Agency for International Development, the Office of the Secretary of Defense in support of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the US Army. In 2006 he received a citation from the Director of the FBI for "exceptional service in the public interest."
Professor Waller is Vice President for Information Operations of the Center for Security Policy. He is a frequent lecturer and instructor in psychological and information operations for the US military and the intelligence community.
He is a member of the faculty of the Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace (LDESP) program at the Naval Postgraduate School; and is an Honorary Fellow at the Proteus Futures Group at the Center for Strategic Leadership of the US Army War College, sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Intelligence University. In 2010 he was named a member of the Psychological Operations Capabilities-Based Assessment team for the US Special Operations Command.
Dr. Waller has written for Insight, the Los Angeles Times, Reader's Digest, USA Today, the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal. He is an occasional commentator on the BBC, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC.
He was a founding editor of Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization, published in cooperation with the American University and Moscow State University. He founded and edited Serviam, a magazine for and about private sector global stability solutions, published between 2007 and 2009. His blog is PoliticalWarfare.org. In July 2010 he became an original contributing editor for BigPeace.com.
Education
B.A., Phi Beta Kappa, 1985, George Washington University; John M. Olin Fellow, Boston University, 1987-1989; M.A., Boston University, 1989; Ph.D., Boston University, Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy, 1993.
- Recipient of the University Professors Alumni Award for Best Dissertation, 1993.
- Recipient of the University Professors Distinguished Alumni Award, 2007.
Courses
Foreign Propaganda, Perceptions and Policy Political Warfare: Past, Present and Future Public Diplomacy and Political WarfarePublications
Getting serious about strategic influence Public Diplomacy: 'Medicine is the universal language' Private intelligence contracting is here to stay[List All]
Books
Founding Political Warfare Documents of the United States The Public Diplomacy Reader Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War[List All]
