Dr. John Nagl, the acclaimed author of Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam, will speak at the UTC University Center’s Raccoon Mountain Room on Tuesday, February 3, at 12:15 p.m. Nagl, a 1988 West Point graduate, Rhodes Scholar, former Army colonel, and Bronze Star recipient will speak on “Counterinsurgency Lessons from Iraq and Afghanistan.”
Nagl, currently a Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C., evaluated Iraq’s security and political situation on the ground on behalf of General David Petraeus. The University of Chicago Press will publish later this year his new book on the Army’s adaption to counterinsurgency (COIN) in Iraq.
While he was in the Army, Nagl served in Operation Desert Storm, firing the first tank rounds against Iraqi border post in February 1991. He later worked as Military Assistant to Deputy Secretaries of Defense Paul Wolfowitz and Gordan England advising on counterterror policies. He served as managing and contributing editor of the team that produced the Army’s Field Manual 3-24 Counterinsurgency. Nagl also taught classes on National Security and U.S. Foreign Policy at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York.
Nagl received his Ph.D. in International Relations from St. Antony’s College at Oxford University. He has published articles in Foreign Policy, Military Review, National Security Studies Quarterly and World Affairs. Nagl has been featured in discussion on counterinsurgency in Iraq and Afghanistan on National Public Radio, CSPAN, and Reuters, also writing op-ed commentaries for the The New York Times and The Washington Post.
During his UTC visit Nagl will talk with cadets enrolled in the new ROTC program. His visit has been sponsored by the UTC Speakers & Special Events Committee, College of Arts & Sciences, Political Science Department and ROTC.
