Seth G. Jones

Biography

Seth G. Jones is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. He most recently 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, with a particular focus on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and al Qa'ida. Jones is the author of Hunting in the Shadows: The Pursuit of al Qa'ida after 9/11 (W.W. Norton, forthcoming) and In the Graveyard of Empires: America's War in Afghanistan (W. W. Norton), which won the 2010 Council on Foreign Relations Silver Medal for Best Book of the Year. He is also the author of The Rise of European Security Cooperation (Cambridge University Press, 2007). He has published articles in a range of journals, such as Foreign Affairs and Foreign Policy, as well as in such newspapers and magazines as the New York Times, Newsweek, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal.

Among his many RAND publications are 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.