Nancy Walbridge Collins is an American who specializes in U.S. national security, defense leadership, and military technology. She is the chair of defense and security studies at Columbia University.
Collins is the author of Grey Wars (Yale University Press), an analysis of America's shifting forms of warfare. Her essays and commentaries appear in a range of publications, including Forbes, The New York Times, TIME, U.S. News & World Report, and The Wall Street Journal.
Dr. Collins is committed to public service, undertaking her first assignment in 1992. She serves as a senior advisor in the U.S. Department of Defense, focusing on national mission priorities and leadership assessments. She has overseen programs, activities, and special projects with the intelligence community, the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, and U.S. Special Operations Forces.
She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the U.S. Commission on Military History. She has served as a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, at West Point, and at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service.
Education
Collins earned her B.A. in government from Georgetown University and M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of London, where she was named the Thornley Fellow, an international prize. Collins graduated from the Loomis Chaffee School and served on its Board of Trustees for a decade.
Awards
She has been awarded fellowships and grants, from among others, the University of Chicago, Harvard University, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Wilson Center, and Yale University. She is a recipient of the U.S. Congressional Dirksen Award and the NCAFP 21st Century Leadership Award.
Publications
Grey Wars: A Contemporary History of U.S. Special Operations (Yale University Press, 2021). Book The Atlantic Imperative (Atlantic Council, 2021). Essay Patriotism, Security Strategies, & The Rising Generation, FOX NEWS, July 6, 2013. Article “National Responsibility from Abbottabad to Patriots’ Day,” with M. Malvesti, CNN, May 1, 2013. Article “NATO Is Not Enough: The Seven-Continent Strategy,” New York Times, April 23, 2013. Article “The Bell Tolls for the U.S. Military,” TIME Magazine, March 26, 2013. Essay “Sequestration Imperatives: Creating 21st Century Force,” U.S. News & World Report,” with M. McGuire IV, March 25, 2013. Article “The Unintended Consequences of Highly Sensitive Information Disclosure,” with M. Malvesti, Forbes, February 5, 2013. Article ""No Easy Day"" Meets Pentagon Hardball," The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 2014. Article