Professor Adam Oler is a Professor of Strategy at the National War College, National Defense University, and a retired Air Force Colonel. He teaches national security strategy, joint warfighting, and regional security to senior military officers and civilian national security professionals. During his tenure at the College, he served three years as Chair of the Department of Security Studies, followed by three years as Associate Dean of Academics, where he led curriculum development, academic assessment, and institutional accreditation initiatives while helping align senior professional military education with Department of War priorities. He also led efforts to integrate joint warfighting and multi-domain operations across the curriculum, strengthening the preparation of senior leaders to develop and implement strategy at the operational and strategic levels.
Professor Oler is an original author and a lead co-editor of A National Security Strategy Primer, the National War College's foundational text on strategic logic, which is used throughout the College and by interagency and international partner institutions. He has played a central role in developing the College's regional studies and applied strategy programs, particularly those focused on Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the broader strategic dynamics of the Middle East. His work includes designing core curricula, leading field study programs, and delivering lectures on regional security, sectarianism, strategic competition, and the implications of Middle East conflicts for U.S. national security strategy.
His current research focuses on genocide studies, war crimes, and the strategic implications of mass atrocity. His work includes research conducted in Germany, Israel, and Poland.
A retired Air Force Colonel and Joint Qualified Officer, Professor Oler served nearly 24 years as a judge advocate in a wide range of operational and senior advisory positions, including service as a legal advisor to senior commanders during combat operations. His assignments included prosecutor, defense counsel, military judge, appellate government counsel, Staff Judge Advocate, legal advisor to U.S. Air Forces Central Command, Assistant Executive to The Judge Advocate General of the Air Force, and legal advisor within the Office of the Air Force Inspector General.
He holds a J.D. from Stetson University College of Law, where he served on the Stetson Law Review, a bachelor's degree in history from the New College of Florida, and is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College.
- FUNCTIONAL EXPERTISE: National Security Strategy, Strategic Design, Joint Warfighting, Law of Armed Conflict; Genocide Studies
- REGIONAL EXPERTISE: Middle East
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