Afghanistan War Commission

Commissioner Bio

Seth G. Jones

Dr. Seth G. Jones serves as a commissioner on the Afghanistan War Commission. He is Senior Vice President, Harold Brown Chair, and director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He also teaches at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. Prior to joining CSIS, Dr. Jones was the director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the RAND Corporation. Before that, he served in several positions in U.S. Special Operations Command and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, including as a plans officer and advisor to the commanding general, U.S. Special Operations Forces, in Afghanistan. In 2014, he served on a congressionally mandated panel that reviewed the FBI’s implementation of counterterrorism recommendations contained in the 9/11 Commission Report. He is the author of numerous books, including “In the Graveyard of Empires: America’s War in Afghanistan” (W.W. Norton). Dr. Jones is a graduate of Bowdoin College and received his M.A. and PhD from the University of Chicago.