John Spencer

John W. Spencer is an award-winning scholar, professor, author, combat veteran, and internationally recognized expert and advisor on urban warfare and other military related topics. Considered the world’s leading expert on urban warfare, he served as an advisor to the top four-star general and other senior leaders in the U.S. Army as part of strategic research groups from the Pentagon to the United States Military Academy.

Spencer currently serves as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies with the Madison Policy Forum. He recently served as the Chair of Urban Warfare Studies at the Modern War Institute at West Point, Co-Director of the Urban Warfare Project, and host of the Urban Warfare Project podcast. He also served as a Colonel in the California State Guard with assignment to the 40th Infantry Division, California Army National Guard as the Director of Urban Warfare Training.

Serving over twenty-five years in the active Army as an infantry soldier, Spencer has held ranks from Private to Sergeant First Class and Second Lieutenant to Major. His assignments as an Army officer included two combat deployments to Iraq as both an Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Commander, a Ranger Instructor with the Army’s Ranger School, a Joint Chief of Staff and Army Staff intern, fellow with the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group, and Co-Founder, Strategic Planner, and Deputy Director of the Modern War Institute at West Point.

Spencer holds a Master of Policy Management from Georgetown University. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, LA Times, NY Daily News, Wired Magazine, Politico, The Hill, Foreign Policy Magazine, Defense One, Army Magazine, and many other publications. Spencer is also a regular military analyst and commentator for CNN, MSNBC, BBC, and numerous news and media organizations. He currently lives in Colorado Springs, CO, with his wife and three children.

John Spencer’s publications include:

Books

• Understanding Urban Warfare, Howgate Publishing, October 2022.
• Connected Soldiers: Life, Leadership, and Social Connections in Modern War, Potomac Books, July 2022.

Book Chapters

• “Gangs of Baghdad,” in Strategic Notes On Third Generation Gangs (XlibrisUS, 2020)
• “The Power of Op-Eds: How to Inform & Influence,” in
• “What the Walls of Westeros Teach Us about War and Warfare,” in Winning Westeros: How Game of Thrones Explains Modern Military Conflict (Potomac Books, 2019)
• “Urban Warfare Studies,” foreword for the book Blood and Concrete: 21st Century Conflict in Urban Centers and Megacities (XlibrisUS, 2019)
• “Why the Jedi Won Fights, Not Wars,” in Strategy Strikes Back: How Star Wars Explains Modern Conflict (Potomac Books, 2018)

Journal Articles

• “Using Digital Textbooks to Improve Student Learning: Lessons for Military Educators,” Journal of Military Learning, October 1, 2018 (coauthored)
• “Putting Concepts of Future Warfare to the Test,” Military Review, March 1, 2018 (coauthored)

Professional Articles

• “Urban Warfare Case Study #6 – Fallujah 1,” Modern War Institute, October 28, 2022
• “The Second Battle of Fallujah: American Forces at War Inside a Hotbed of Insurgency,” Soldiers of Fortune Magazine, October 20, 2022
• “Ukraine Can Win This War,” Common Sense, September 26, 2022
• “Jumping into Combat: A Sky Soldier Goes to War in Iraq,” Soldiers of Fortune Magazine, August 22, 2022
• “In Ukraine, Two US Army Veterans See the New Face of War,” Soldiers of Fortune Magazine, August 16, 2022 (coauthored)
• “How volunteers can help defeat great powers,” Military Times, July 5, 2022 (coauthored)
• “Waterworld: How Ukraine Flooded Three Rivers to Help Save Kyiv,” Modern War Institute, July 1, 2022 (coauthored)
• “Why Morale is So Crucial in War,” Kyiv Post, May 24, 2022 (coauthored)
• “Russian moms can play a part in helping to end Vladimir Putin’s War in Ukraine,” USA Today, May 2, 2022 (coauthored)
• “Ukrainians should be on the lookout for a new battlefield enemy: Disease,” Washington Post, April 5, 2022. (Coauthored)
• “Russia’s Humanitarian Corridors in Ukraine Endanger Human Life,” Wall Street Journal, March 16, 2022. (Coauthored)
• “Defending the City: An Overview of Defensive Tactics From the Modern History of Urban Warfare,” Modern War Institute, February 14, 2022 (coauthored)
• “Urban Warfare Case Study #4: Suez City” Modern War Institute, January 13, 2022 (coauthored)
• “Urban Warfare Project Case Study #3 – Hue” Modern War Institute, November 4, 2021 (coauthored)
• “Urban Warfare Project Case Study #2 – Mosul,” Modern War Institute, September 15, 2021 (coauthored)
• “Enter and Clear a Room: The History of Battle Drill 6, and Why the Army Needs More Tactical Training Like It—Not Less,” Modern War Institute, July 21, 2021 (coauthored)
• “The Battle of Shusha City and The Missed Lessons of the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War.” Modern War Institute, July 14, 2021 (coauthored)
• “A Status Check on the Army’s Preparation for the Next War,” Modern War Institute, July 6, 2021 (coauthored)
• “UWP Case Study #1 – Stalingrad,” Modern War Institute, June 28, 2021
• “The Vampire Fallacy: Virtual Reality vs Needs Based Strategies,” Wavell Room, June 17, 2021 (coauthored)
• “What the Military Needs After Afghanistan,” Military Times, April 23, 2021 (coauthored)
• “Leaders, We Need Your Data: The Key to Refining the Army Combat Fitness Test,” Modern War Institute, March 21, 2021 (coauthored)
• “Square Peg, Round Hole: Maneuver Warfare and the Urban Battlefield,” Modern War Institute, March 11, 2021
• “More Than A Test: Building A Better Army Fitness Culture,” Modern War Institute, February 17, 2021 (coauthored)
• “The Eight Rules of Urban Warfare and Why We Must Work to Change Them,” Modern War Institute, January 12, 2021
• “The Twelve Days of Urban Warfare Christmas,” Modern War Institute, December 21, 2020
• “The Pentagon thinks urban warfare is obsolete. That’s wrong.” Washington Post, November 20, 2020 (coauthored)
• “Four Transformational Steps The US Army Should Take To Get Serious About Urban Operations,” Modern War Institute, July 21, 2020
• “Want police reforms? Then, ask the hard questions,” Newsday, July 13, 2020
• “Proxy Forces Undermine Conventional Strategy,” Army Magazine, May 26, 2020 (coauthored)
• “The City is Not Neutral: Why Urban Warfare is So Hard,” Modern War Institute, March 4, 2020
• “War Books: Preparing for Underground Warfare,” Modern War Institute, February 12, 2020
• “Gangs of Baghdad,” Modern War Institute, January 21, 2020
• “The Return of Tunnel Bombs: A Medieval Tactic on the Modern Battlefield,” Modern War Institute, December 30, 2019
• “The Power of Op-Eds: How to Inform and Influence,” Modern War Institute, December 5, 2019
• “Difficult Megacity Fight Seen in Mumbai” Army Magazine, November 1, 2019 (coauthored)
• “The Dangers of Distracted Fighting,” Wired Magazine, October 9, 2019
• “Facing Our Underground Nightmares: Casting Light On the Subterranean,” Army Magazine, August 20, 2019 (coauthored)
• “How our recent Medal of Honor shows a weakness in military power,” Military Times, July 15, 2019
• “Every City is Different. That’s Why a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Urban Operations Won’t Work,” Modern War Institute, May 30, 2019
• “The Destructive Age of Urban Warfare; Or, How to Kill A City and How to Protect It,” Modern War Institute, March 28, 2019
• “My Underground Warfare Wish List,” Modern War Institute, February 19, 2019
• “Stealing the Enemy’s Urban Advantage: The Battle of Sadr City,” Modern War Institute, January 21, 2019
• “How I Discovered Writing,” Wavell Room, December 4, 2018
• “Why Militaries Must Destroy Cities to Save Them,” Modern War Institute, November 8, 2018
• “Crossing the Street: Addressing on of Urban Warfare’s Greatest Challenges” Modern War Institute, October 30, 2018
• “Getting Beyond Door Kicking: Four Tasks for Urban Warriors,” Modern War Institute, September 18, 2018
• “While the North Korean Nuclear Button Cools, The Threat of The Underground Lingers,” Modern War Institute, August 31, 2018 (coauthored)
• “Who will challenge and check the military now that Sen. John McCain is gone?” USA Today, August 29, 2018 (coauthored)
• “The Simulations Road to War,” Army Magazine, August 22, 2018 (coauthored)
• “Investing in understanding cities is investing in national security,” The Hill, August 6, 2018 (coauthored)
• “The missing link to preparing for military operations in megacities and dense urban areas,” Army Times, July 20, 2018 (coauthored)
• “The coming cyberbattle will be worse than people think,” Fifth Domain, July 9, 2018
• “Prepare the Army for the Future Urban Battlefield,” Army Magazine, May 16, 2018 (coauthored)
• “War Books: Preparing for Urban Warfare,” Modern War Institute, April 30, 2018
• “The Era of Urban Warfare is Already Here,” Foreign Policy Research Institute, March 21, 2018
• “Ten Ways to Fix the U.S. Military’s Close Combat Lethality,” War on the Rocks, March 08, 2018 (coauthored)
• “A gun won’t give you the guts to run toward danger,” The Washington Post,” March 05, 2018 (coauthored)
• “Want soldiers to use advanced tech? Go more disposable and address accountability culture.” Defense News, February 21, 2018
• “Sticker Shock: The World Just Got the Bill for Rebuilding War-Ravaged Cities in Iraq,” Modern War Institute, February 21, 2018 (coauthored)
• “Even Realistic Videogames like Call of Duty Won’t Help Us Win Wars,” Wired Magazine, January 05, 2018 (coauthored)
• “A Soldier’s Urban Warfare Christmas Wish List,” Modern War Institute, December 19, 2017
• “How drone swarms could change urban warfare,” C4ISRNET, December 11, 2017
• “How the military is making it hard to remember our wars,” The Washington Post, November 10, 2017
• “America’s Mumbai,” Modern War Institute, October 17, 2017
• “Giving military equipment to police will not lead to safer streets,” The Hill, September 20, 2017 (coauthored)
• “A Better Approach to Urban Operations: Treat Cities like Human Bodies,” Modern War Institute, September 13, 2017 (coauthored)
• “Why America Is Destroying Iraqi Cities to Save Them,” The National Interest, August 23, 2017
• “The City Is the Battlefield of the Future,” The Wall Street Journal, July 19, 2017
• “Three ‘War Hacks’ for Urban Combat,” Modern War Institute, July 03, 2017
• “So You Think the Army Can Avoid Fighting in Megacities,” Modern War Institute, May 16, 2017 (coauthored)
• “The Army Needs an Urban Warfare School and it Needs it Soon,” Modern War Institute, April 05, 2017
• “We don’t need more money to defeat ISIS. We need more stats,” The Hill, March 22, 2017 (coauthored)
• “What an Army Megacities Unit Would Look Like,” Modern War Institute, March 08, 2017
• “It’s time to Create a Megacities Combat Unit,” Modern War Institute, January 31, 2017
• “To Help Vets, Overhaul How We Treat PTSD,” The Hill, January 31, 2017 (coauthored)
• “To Win at War, Make America Fit Again,” The Hill, January 12, 2017 (coauthored)
• “To Understand PTSD, Send Scientist to War,” Wired Magazine, January 12, 2017
• “Grenade Launchers and Bed Sheets: An Invisibility Kit for Urban Combat,” Modern War Institute, December 12, 2016
• “Ranger School is Not a Leadership School,” Modern War Institute, December 06, 2016
• “The Most Effective Weapon on the Modern Battlefield is Concrete,” Modern War Institute, November 14, 2016
• “If We Really Want Women in Combat, Men Must Do More,” Los Angeles Times, October 12, 2016
• “Unplug, Soldier! Too Much Online Time is Hurting the Army,” Defense One, September 27, 2016
• “Going Off-Duty Doesn’t Protect Online Behavior,” Army Magazine, August 2016, (coauthored)
• “How to rethink the U.S. military’s troop deployment policy,” Politico, July 27, 2016
• “No, Actually Transgender Soldiers Make Us A Stronger Military,” The Huffington Post, July 13, 2016
• “The Softer American,” Modern War Institute, July 05, 2016
• “The Challenges of Ranger School and How to Overcome Them,” Modern War Institute, April 12, 2016
• “Horse Soldiers in Afghanistan and the Cost of War,” Modern War Institute, April 11, 2016
• “What is Army Doctrine?” Modern War Institute, March 21, 2016
• “Wanted: Bullet Stopping Breakthroughs,” Modern War Institute, February 17, 2016
• “An Army of sound mind and body,” NY Daily News, February 08, 2016
• “Right Question, Right Tools,” Modern War Institute, January 18, 2016
• “Now women need to seek those combat jobs,” USA Today, January 09, 2016
• “The military’s real problem: Fewer Americans are joining,” Politico, December 15, 2015
• “From Army of One to Band of Tweeters,” The New York Times, November 05, 2015
• “It’s not ‘a man, man’s world’ and neither is war: Gender integration in the Infantry,” Foreign Policy Magazine, September 15, 2015
• “General, Tear Down that Wall: Gender and the Infantry,” War on the Rocks, August 31, 2015
• “Cadets discuss subterranean environments with NYC firefighters,” The Pointer View, March 12, 2015
• “Challenging Army Force Design,” Small Wars Journal, September 22, 2014