About
AT A GLANCE:
Professor of Practice of Grand Strategy and Director of the Grand Strategy Program,
Denison University
RESEARCH AREAS:
• Grand Strategy & National Security
• Geopolitics & Geoeconomics
• Defense & Military Strategy
• Civil–Military Relations
• Political Risk Analysis
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Scott A. Smitson is a Strategist, Global Futures Forecaster, Political Scientist,
and Educator. Dr. Smitson is the Professor of Practice of Grand Strategy and the Director
of the Grand Strategy Program at Denison University and was a Chamberlain Fellow and
Visiting Professor of Political Science at Amherst College. Dr. Smitson is the founder
and Chief Strategy Officer of Geopolitics, Incorporated, which advises investors and
private sector decision-makers in understanding the impact of geopolitics on the risks
and opportunities in foreign and domestic markets. Dr. Smitson previously directed
all geopolitical risk analysis for Lykeion, providing analysis and assessments for
clients on issues at the interface of finance, macroeconomics, and geopolitics. He
is a retired US Army Officer, serving over twenty-one years on active duty in both
combat arms and as an Army Strategist. As a Strategist, he led multi-disciplinary
groups and facilitated senior leader decision-making by assessing, developing, and
articulating policy, strategy, and plans at the national and international levels,
all while integrating U.S. instruments of power, most especially defense, diplomacy,
and development. His military career culminated in his assignment as the Strategy
Chief at US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), where he served as the principal strategic
advisor to the 4- Star Commander on matters directly impacting current operations
and mid-to-long term national policy and strategy for U.S. military activity and operations
across Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Dr. Smitson has also advised
US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) on issues related to geostrategy and geoeconomics
and was the founding director of SOCOM's Center for Adaptative Innovative Statecraft,
representing SOCOM at the 2022 NATO Summit.
In addition to a tour at the Pentagon as part of the Joint Staff, Dr. Smitson was a member of the US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander’s Action Group (CAG), where he served as a Strategic Advisor on Middle East Affairs for the previous CENTCOM Commander (previous Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III). Dr. Smitson developed the military assurance options to Gulf Cooperative Council (GCC) partners in support of the State Department-led P5+1 Iran nuclear program negotiations (JCPOA), as well as the development of the counter-ISIS strategy and military campaign plan. He is a decorated combat veteran, with operational experiences in support of Operations Southern Watch and Iraqi Freedom, service as the UN Commander’s representative for Armistice issues in the Korean DMZ, and Company Command in 2nd Infantry Division. From 2013-2014, he was a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow (CFR IAF) where he served as a US-UK Strategic Planner in the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense.
Dr. Smitson has served as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the United States Military Academy and has held adjunct professorships at Georgetown University, °®¶¹´«Ã½ International University (FIU), University of Miami, and with the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University.
Dr. Smitson earned a Joint PhD in Political Science and Public Policy from Indiana University’s School of Environmental and Public Affairs (SPEA) as well as a MA in Political Science. He was a Distinguished Military Graduate at the Ohio State University.
PUBLICATIONS:
The Road to Good Intentions: British Nation-Building in Aden
An American in Her Majesty’s Ministry of Defence
Solving America's Gray-Zone Puzzle
The Compound Security Dilemma: Threats at the Nexus of War and Peace
Appraising the Pathologies of American Grand Strategy