J. Michael Waller
Vice President and Provost; Walter and Leonore Annenberg Professor of International Communication
Dr. Waller teaches the following courses at IWP:
- Foreign Propaganda, Perceptions and Policy (fall semester)
- Information Operations and Information Warfare (spring semester)
- Political Warfare: Past, Present and Future (fall semester)
- Public Diplomacy and Political Warfare (spring semester)
Professional Experience
Dr. Waller is the Vice President and Provost of The Institute of World Politics. He 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 more than 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, was an operative for members of the White House Active Measures Working Group, 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, the US Army, and the US Special Operations Command. In 2006 he received a citation from the Director of the FBI for "exceptional service in the public interest." He has designed and conducted specialized training courses for the US military and civilian agencies.
Affiliations
In addition to his full-time professorship at IWP, Professor Waller has the following professional associations and duties:
- Vice President for Information Operations of the Center for Security Policy, and a member of the Center's Team B II on the shariah threat doctrine. In that capacity he was a contributing author to Team B II's landmark 2010 book, Shariah: The Threat to America: An Exercise in Competitive Analysis.
- A frequent lecturer and instructor in psychological and information operations for the US military and the intelligence community.
- Faculty member, Leader Development and Education for Sustained Peace (LDESP) program at the Naval Postgraduate School;
- 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.
- Member, International Advisory Forum, Niccolo Machiavelli Institute for Strategic Studies, Rome, Italy.
- Member, Influence Advisory Panel, London.
Dr. Waller has written for Insight, the Los Angeles Times, Reader's Digest, the New York Times, 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 AcmeOfSkill.com. In July 2010 he became an original contributing editor for the late Andrew Breitbart's BigPeace.com.
Books
The Third Current of Revolution: Inside the North American Front of El Salvador's Guerrilla War
Secret Empire: The KGB in Russia Today
The Rule Of Law And Economic Reform In Russia (John M Olin Critical Issues Series)
Dismantling Tyranny: Transitioning Beyond Totalitarian Regimes
Counterintelligence: Reform for a Critical National Capability
Fighting the War of Ideas like a Real War
The Public Diplomacy Reader
Strategic Influence: Propaganda, Counterpropaganda and Political Warfare (Institute of World Politics Press, 2009), editor.
Founding Political Warfare Documents of the United States
Shariah: The Threat To America: An Exercise In Competitive Analysis (Report of Team B II)
Education
B.A., George Washington University, 1985; M.A., Boston University, 1989; Ph.D., Boston University, Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy, 1993.
- Phi Beta Kappa, 1985.
- John M. Olin Fellow, Center for Defense Journalism, Boston University, 1987-1988.
- Boston University Presidential Scholar, 1987-1989.
- Scaife Foundation fellowship, Boston University, 1989-90.
- Earhart Foundation fellowship, Boston University, 1989-1991.
- Recipient of the University Professors Alumni Award for Best Dissertation, 1993.
- Recipient of the University Professors Distinguished Alumni Award, 2007.
Contact: waller@iwp.edu
Courses
Foreign Propaganda, Perceptions and Policy Information Operations and Information Warfare 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]
