Carol Atkinson

Assistant Professor

Carol Atkinson is an expert on the US military, the evolving nature of warfare, emerging security threats, and US national security. She retired as a lieutenant colonel from the US Air Force in 2005. She is a veteran of Operation Desert Storm (1991) where she worked on the Central Command Headquarters' staff in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and later on the contingency planning staff in Dhahran. During the Cold War, she was an intelligence advisor on Strategic Air Command's nuclear airborne command post which was tasked with emergency command and control of US strategic nuclear weapons. She has also lived in Korea. Dr. Atkinson's research looks at how international exchange programs impact participants' political beliefs and behavior. She is working on a book on academic exchanges hosted by US military staff and war colleges. Dr. Atkinson was recently awarded the prestigious Smith Richardson Foundation Junior Faculty Grant to support her work. She teaches courses on international politics, warfare and emerging threats, and the role of ideas, norms, and identity in international security issues. She has taught at the US Air Force Academy, US Air Force Command and Staff College, University of Southern California, and Stanford University.