COL Carolyn Erickson (’15): U.S. Army Strategist

Grand Strategy: A Worldview Shift

COL Carolyn Erickson began her time at IWP while she was serving as a Major in the Army. She had graduated from West Point, gained tactical and operational experience serving as a Military Police Officer for about a decade, and finished her master’s degree at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Through a partnership program between IWP and the U.S. Army War College, COL Erickson earned a Certificate in Strategic Studies at IWP to fulfill the requirements of the Basic Strategic Arts Program (BSAP), which prepares U.S. Army Strategists.

Her work with the Army since then – including her current role as Director of Campaign Planning at the U.S. Army War College – has been informed by her studies at IWP.

“IWP was my worldview shift,” she shared. “It seemed like you could get in a classroom and have a genuine conversation about policy – what worked, didn’t work, and why. There wasn’t a third rail that you weren’t allowed to touch.”

In Dr. Anne Bradley’s class on Economics for Foreign Policy Makers, COL Erickson read Frédéric Bastiat’s The Law. “It changed the way I address the world,” she said. “There are unintended consequences and perverse incentives. I was struck by the significant role of human agency and the limited capacity of government to solve our problems.”

Carolyn was so impressed by this course that she asked for more literature on the subject. Dr. Bradley recommended Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell. COL Erickson said, “I read it cover to cover. I wrote Dr. Sowell a letter at the Hudson Institute, and he wrote back!”

She also enjoyed studying with Prof. John Tsagronis, who formerly served on the National Security Council staff: “It was very useful for someone working in the practical area to learn from a professor who understood the different frictions and how things work.”

Work as an Army Strategist

COL Erickson used her Certificate from IWP to support her work as an Army Strategist. In this role, Erickson was given what she calls “blank sheet of paper problems,” where she would look at a complex issue and try to find solutions.

“I would look at who touches the problem. Who has equities, who is invested in the current way the world is? Can you make everyone happy enough to get something moving?”

Specifically, Carolyn oversaw plans, policy, strategy, and strategic partnerships. Any time the Army interacted with a non-military entity, such as business, foreign partners, etc., Carolyn and her team were involved.

Creating a Cyber Strategy for the Army

COL Erickson later spent several years at U.S. Army Cyber Command working on its first-ever Campaign Support Plan. After a little over a year, COL Erickson and her team created a long-term strategy for dealing with the constantly changing cyber landscape.

“It’s about the holistic relationship where work in one area prompts work in another area,” says Erickson. “Cyber is a dynamic domain. (Other domains are land, air, space, and maritime.) In cyber, if it’s not a nation-state actor, it’s a proxy actor, financially motivated actor, or some ‘genius’ (with limited knowledge) who bought a malicious code on the dark web, and you’re unlucky that it hit you. It’s a constant barrage! You have to be thoughtful and measured in how you allocate time.”

COL Erickson said that creating the Army’s cyber strategy “was a matter of training my Majors on how to work across a large organization to figure out where we should be working towards and how to build that framework.” She encouraged her team to get the technical training and certifications they needed to understand the cyber and IT world, and she had a 100% success rate in this effort.

When her Majors came to her for advice, she would draw on her IWP education to help them look at the larger view of the issue: “If you change one part of the system, how does it impact the rest of the system? We used a systems approach to address a problem, and we took into account all the stakeholders.”  Carolyn saw the work of her team “come up to a whole new level,” and as a result, they were able to provide the best possible advice to their three-star general.

She also helped explore how the U.S. Army Cyber Command could work with foreign partners. “There is a lot of global demand for improved cyber capabilities,” she said. “It is important to have allies and partners who approach things the way you do.”

Impacting the Future of the Military

COL Erickson has been teaching at the U.S. Army War College for about a year and a half. “I think I’m making my biggest impact now. I’m helping prepare the next generation of military leaders.”

Erickson comes from a family with a history of service. Her father was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, and her grandfather flew planes in WWII. “My father traveled the world after Vietnam. He figured he needed to find something different, and after all his travels, he realized America is the best thing we have. It is an honor and a pleasure to serve this fine country.”

Please note: These are Carolyn’s personal views and do not constitute endorsement by the U.S. Department of Defense or U.S. Army. The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) or Military-themed visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.