Dr. S. Amer Latif is the OSD-Chair at National War College (NWC). Before coming to NWC, Dr. Latif served in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy (OSDP) as a senior cyber policy advisor focusing on the Indo-Pacific. Previously, he was a senior policy advisor on Central Asia where he was instrumental in securing critical access for U.S. forces and building defense ties with this region. For his efforts, he was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense Award for Exception Civilian Service.
From 2011-2012, he was a visiting fellow with the Wadhwani Chair for U.S.-India Policy Studies at CSIS where he directed a major project on U.S.-India defense and security ties. From 2007-2011, he was director for South Asian affairs in the Office of South and Southeast Asian Affairs in OSDP. In that capacity, he was responsible for defense relations with India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Maldives, and for the management of Diego Garcia. While in that position, he oversaw deepening defense ties with India, as well as counterterrorism, maritime security, and defense reform efforts for Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Nepal. From 2004 to 2007, he served as a country director and policy adviser for the Caucasus and Caspian regions in the same office. In that capacity, he worked on securing access and promoting defense relations with Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, as well as Caspian Sea security issues.
Prior to OSDP, he served as deputy director of operations (J3) at the Joint Warfare Analysis Center (JWAC), where he was responsible for the management of support on effects-based operations to all combatant commands on operations ranging from low- to high-intensity conflict.
He also served as a U.S. Coast Guard officer in staff and operational assignments. He served as a deck watch officer and auxiliary division officer on the USCGC Morgenthau, where his unit was involved in operations related to drug interdiction, migrant interdiction, and fisheries patrols. Dr. Latif is a professional lecturer at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs where he teaches courses on U.S. national security and defense policy. He has lectured at Mary Washington College, the National War College, the Naval War College, the Marine Corps University, the Foreign Service Institute, and Catholic University.
Dr. Latif holds a B.Sc. in electrical engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Catholic University of America. He was a fellow of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI program. He is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College in Washington, D.C. and was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations.