Richard Kugler

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Richard Kugler

Richard L. Kugler is an American thinker and writer on U.S. national security policy and defense strategy.

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Life and work

Dr. Kugler is a thinker, writer, and scholar on U.S. national security policy and defense strategy. He is especially known for his analyses of complex policy issues and options, and for producing innovative policies, strategies, plans, programs, and budgets that help shape official thinking. He has been one of the original architects of NATO enlargement as well as multiple other U.S. policy departures in Europe, Asia, and the Persian Gulf. He was a Distinguished Research Professor at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP) of the National Defense University, and is now a senior consultant there. He advises senior echelons of the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), the Joint Staff, and the interagency community. He is author or editor of twenty books in his field, along with many journal articles in Foreign Affairs, Survival, and other journals, book chapters, and official studies.

Dr. Kugler, along with Dr. F. Stephen Larrabee and Dr. Ronald D. Asmus were the three RAND analysts who helped establish the US approach toward NATO Enlargement. RAND publicly portrayed this work as one of its most significant accomplishments in over 50 years. The principal work on NATO Enlargement was presented in a Foreign Affairs article ("Building a New NATO) and two Survival articles (Strategic Options and Budget Costs for NATO Enlargement). The London Times portrayed their work as helping redraw the political and military map of Europe. Other noteworthy collaborators of Dr. Kugler are Mr. David Gompert David Gompert, and Dr. Paul Davis.

A political scientist, defense economist, and operations research analyst, Dr. Kugler holds a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1988–1997, he was a research leader at the public think tank, the RAND Corporation. From 1984–1988, he was director of Department of Defense's (DOD) Strategic Concepts Development Center, where he advised the Secretary of Defense and Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff. From 1975 to 1984, he was a senior executive in the Office of Secretary of Defense. During 1968–1972, he was a United States Air Force officer, including a tour in Southeast Asia. He has been awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal, the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, and other decorations.

Dr. Kugler has also taught graduate courses at RAND, Georgetown University and George Washington University in Security Policy Studies (Defense Analysis using Operations Research/Systems Analysis Techniques for policy analysis). Kugler was an adjunct professor of international relations at both universities. Many of his students have gone on to senior level positions in DOD, US Department of State, NATO and other national and international policy-oriented organizations.

Books and documents

See Amazon.com Richard L. Kugler books at https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=Richard%20L.%20Kugler&ie=UTF8&search-alias=books&sort=relevancerank 

Dr. Kugler has written thousands of pages of original analysis for the Department of Defense. A great deal of Dr. Kugler's work has been used as the basis for U.S. national security policy during each administration from 1977 to the administration of President Barack Obama. Dr. Kugler is an analyst and is not involved in politics.

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