Captain John Allen Williams, PhD, USNR (Retired)
John Allen ("Jay") Williams is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Loyola University Chicago, with degrees from Grinnell College (B.A.) and the University of Pennsylvania (M.A. and Ph.D.). His writings include works on military strategy, military forces and missions, catastrophic terrorism, defense organization, civil-military relations, military culture, military professionalism and leadership, personnel issues, professional military education, and strategic policy. He is a frequent media commentator whose lectures, travels, and professional appearances have taken him to six continents.
Dr. Williams' latest academic books are U.S. National Security: Policymakers, Processes, and Politics (with Stephen J. Cimbala and the late Sam C. Sarkesian — forthcoming Summer 2022) and The Postmodern Military: Armed Forces After the Cold War (coedited with Charles C. Moskos and David R. Segal). In addition, he has contributed to numerous academic and policy books and journals.
He is past Chair and President of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society (IUS), an international and interdisciplinary scholarly society of specialists in military professionalism and the relationship between the military and society, and continues as a member of the IUS Council and the Editorial Board of its journal. He received the Morris Janowitz Career Achievement Award from the IUS in 2013. He was co-organizer and President of the International Security and Arms Control Section of the American Political Science Association, edited the National Strategy Forum Review, and was a Contributing Editor at the web magazine War On the Rocks.
Dr. Williams retired as a Captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve with 30 years of commissioned service. A designated Strategic Plans and Social Science Instructor Officer, he performed active duty ashore and at sea as Intelligence and Electronic Warfare Officer aboard USS Columbus (CG-12) and as an instructor in History and Political Science at the U.S. Naval Academy. His reserve duties include assignments to Fleet, Joint, Defense Department, and Navy staffs and command of a Navy Reserve Assault Craft Unit. His personal military awards include the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.
