Seth G. Jones

Senior Vice President; Harold Brown Chair; and Director, International Security Program
Seth G. Jones

Seth G. Jones is senior vice president, Harold Brown Chair, director of the International Security Program, and director of the Warfare, Irregular Threats, and Terrorism Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He focuses on defense strategy, military operations, force posture, and irregular warfare. He leads a bipartisan team of over 50 resident staff and an extensive network of non-resident affiliates dedicated to providing independent strategic insights and policy solutions that shape national security. He also teaches at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS) at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School.

Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Jones was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He also served as representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the assistant secretary of defense for special operations. Before that, he was a plans officer and adviser to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan). In 2014, Dr. Jones served on a congressionally mandated panel that reviewed the FBI’s implementation of counterterrorism recommendations contained in the 9/11 Commission Report. He is the author of Three Dangerous Men: Russia, China, Iran, and the Rise of Irregular Warfare (W.W. Norton, 2021), A Covert Action: Reagan, the CIA, and the Cold War Struggle in Poland (W.W. Norton, 2018), Waging Insurgent Warfare: Lessons from the Vietcong to the Islamic State (Oxford University Press, 2016), Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida since 9/11 (W.W. Norton, 2012), and In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan (W.W. Norton, 2009). Dr. Jones has published articles in a range of journals, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and International Security, as well as newspapers and magazines like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Dr. Jones is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his MA and PhD from the University of Chicago.

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Three Dangerous Men

Seth Jones’ most recent book examines how three key figures in Moscow, Beijing, and Tehran, respectively, built irregular warfare campaigns that are eroding American power. Conventional warfare—clashes between large military forces—defined twentieth-century power. But today, facing dominant US conventional and nuclear capabilities, the U.S.’s principal adversaries, Russia, China, and Iran, have adopted a different style of competition. Cyber attacks, covert action, proxy conflicts, information and disinformation campaigns, espionage, and economic coercion—these are the tools of irregular warfare, which will increasingly reshape international politics. In short, the future of warfare is likely to be closer to the Chinese general Sun Tzu than to the Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz.

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The Truth of the Matter

Restoring American Deterrence

CSIS’s Seth Jones and Ambassador Eric Edelman, vice chair of the Commission on National Defense Strategy and former U.S. Ambassador to both Finland and Türkiye, join the podcast to discuss the Commission’s newest report to Congress and the President and how to bolster U.S. defense in the modern era.

Podcast Episode by H. Andrew Schwartz and Seth G. Jones — August 16, 2024

CSIS the truth of the matter

The Importance of National Resilience: Implications for Taiwan

Please join CSIS experts Dr. Bonny Lin, Jude Blanchette, Dr. Seth Jones, and Dr. Daniel Byman on Wednesday, July 17, at 3:00 p.m. for a virtual conversation on the importance of national resilience, and its implications for the U.S. and Taiwan. 

Event — July 17, 2024

Assessing Israel’s Strike on Iran

In its April 19 attack on Iran, Israel avoided further escalation, while also threatening Iran's most sensitive locations. New CSIS analysis shows how it walked the tightrope.

Commentary by Alexander Palmer, Daniel Byman, Seth G. Jones, and Joseph S. Bermudez Jr. — May 3, 2024