Seth Jones

Background and Education

Seth G. Jones is director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. He served as the representative for the commander, U.S. Special Operations Command, to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations. Before that, he served as a plans officer and advisor to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan (Combined Forces Special Operations Component Command–Afghanistan). Jones specializes in counterinsurgency and counterterrorism, including a focus on al Qa''ida and ISIS/ISIL. He is the author of Waging Insurgent Warfare (Oxford University Press, 2016), Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa''ida after 9/11 (W.W. Norton, 2012), In the Graveyard of Empires: America''s War in Afghanistan (W.W. Norton, 2009), and The Rise of European Security Cooperation (Cambridge University Press, 2007). Jones has published articles in a range of journals, such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and International Security, as well as in such newspapers and magazines as the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Among his many RAND publications are Rolling Back the Islamic State (2017), Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in Somalia (2016), A Persistent Threat: The Evolution of Al Qa''ida and Other Salafi Jihadists (2014), Afghanistan''s Local War (2010), Counterinsurgency in Pakistan (2010), How Terrorist Groups End: Lessons for Countering Al Qa''ida (2009), and Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan (2008). Jones is also coauthor of RAND''s series of reports on nation-building. Jones received his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.