About
AT A GLANCE:
Founder & CEO, W.i.S.E. Consulting, LLC
RESEARCH AREAS:
• Compound Security Competition and the Changing Character of War
• Grand Strategy and Strategic Forecasting
• Civil-Military Relations and Democratic Resilience
• Irregular Warfare, Terrorism, and Counterterrorism
• Integrative Statecraft (Defense–Diplomacy–Development–Commercial)
• Geopolitics of the Global Commons (Maritime, Cyber, and Economic Corridors)
• Strategic Leadership, Transitions, and Institutional Change
BIOGRAPHY:
Dr. Isaiah (Ike) Wilson III is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, former Department of Defense
senior civilian executive (two-star equivalent), and a distinguished scholar-practitioner
of global and national security affairs. Over nearly four decades of military, governmental,
and academic service, he has built a career at the intersection of strategy, diplomacy,
and civic legitimacy—bringing both combat-tested experience and intellectual rigor
to the study and practice of modern security leadership. A veteran of combat and military-humanitarian
operations in the Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan, Dr. Wilson has been a leading voice
in shaping strategic thinking for an era of systemic geopolitical competition.
Dr. Wilson is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wilson W.i.S.E. Consulting LLC, an advisory firm providing strategic counsel to senior leaders across government, military, and industry on issues of grand strategy, transitions, and compound security challenges. He is also Professor of Practice at Arizona State University and Visiting Lecturer with the Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University.
Previously, Dr. Wilson served as President of the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) (2019–2023), and as Director of the U.S. Army Strategic Studies Institute and U.S. Army War College Press (2018–2020). Over his extensive academic career, he attained the rank of Full Professor of Political Science, and now holds Professor Emeritus status at the United States Military Academy at West Point, the U.S. Army War College, and JSOU.
Dr. Wilson’s academic appointments have included teaching and research positions at Arizona State University, Yale University, Columbia University, George Washington University, West Point, the U.S. Army War College, the National War College, and JSOU. His work has continuously bridged theory and practice, exploring how American power can most effectively integrate military, diplomatic, developmental, and commercial instruments in pursuit of sustainable global leadership. His current scholarship focuses on soft power, trust, and democratic credibility as essential components of American influence in a world defined by great-power rivalry. He is the founding thought leader, creator, and designer, of the formal general theory of compound security(GToCS). Across his career, he has served as strategic advisor to multiple four-star commanders, U.S. Secretaries of Defense, ambassadors, and senior foreign leaders.
Dr. Wilson also hosts The Civic Brief podcast and authors Compound Security, Unlocked on Substack, both dedicated to advancing public understanding of civic-military trust and global
stability. A Future Security Initiative Senior Fellow with New America and a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, Dr. Wilson is widely recognized for his contributions to reimagining U.S. and allied security strategies in the twenty-first century.
PUBLICATIONS:
• The Compound Security Dilemma: Threats at the Nexus of War and Peace, Parameters,
U.S. Army War College Quarterly (with Scott A. Smitson), 2020 [link]
• Thinking Beyond War: Civil-Military Relations and Why America Fails to Win the Peace,
Routledge (2nd ed., 2013) [link]
• Thinking beyond Boundaries: Transnational Challenges to U.S. Foreign Policy (Hugh
Liebert, John Griswold, Isaiah Wilson III, editors), Johns Hopkins University Press,
2014 [link]
• Blueprints From The Ashes: Reclaiming a Lost Republic, WiSE Publishing, 2025 [link]
• “Overcoming the Perils and Anticipating the Promise of Compound Security Competition,”
policy and strategy research, 2013–present. [link]
• Over 100 articles and essays published in Foreign Affairs, Parameters, The American
Interest, Small Wars Journal, and other leading policy and academic forums.
CONNECT / FOLLOW:
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-ike-wilson/