J.D. Williams is a senior defense policy researcher at the RAND Corporation focusing on national security, intelligence, and military issues. His recent work encompasses investigation of new concepts for amphibious and naval warfare, Russian and Chinese military strategy, and intelligence tradecraft for employing publicly available information and conducting intelligence net assessments. He came to RAND from the National Intelligence Council where he served as the national intelligence officer for military issues, preparing national intelligence assessments on foreign military forces and strategies, ongoing conflicts, weapons systems, and future warfare.
Previously, he held senior positions in the intelligence community as the research director for the Defense Intelligence Agency's analytic directorate, the chief of Intelligence Support for the Department of the Treasury, and director of Military Plans and Operations at the National Security Agency. He is also a retired Marine Corps colonel with 26 years of active duty as an intelligence and Russian Foreign Area Officer. He earned his M.S. in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University.
Selected Publications
Gene Germanovich, J.D. Williams, Stacie L. Pettyjohn, David A. Shlapak, Anthony Atler, Bradley Martin, NATO's Amphibious Forces Command and Control of a Multibrigade Alliance Task Force, RAND (RR-2928), 2019
Williams, J.D., Gene Germanovich, Stephen Webber, and Gabrielle Tarini, Unlocking NATO's Amphibious Potential: Lessons from the Past, Insights for the Future, RAND Corporation (PE-A695-1), 2020
Scobell, Andrew, Edmund J. Burke, Cortez A. Cooper III, Sale Lilly, Chad J. R. Ohlandt, Eric Warner, and J.D. Williams, China's Grand Strategy: Trends, Trajectories, and Long-Term Competition, RAND Corporation (RR-2798-A), 2020
Andrew Radin, Andrew Scobell, Elina Treyger, J.D. Williams, Logan Ma, Howard J. Shatz, Sean M. Zeigler, Eugeniu Han, Clint Reach, China-Russia Cooperation: Determining Factors, Future Trajectories, Implications for the United States, (RR-3067), 2021 (forthcoming)
George Nacouzi, J.D. Williams, Brian Dolan, Anne Stickells, David Luckey, Colin Ludwig, Jia Xu, Yuliya Shokh, Daniel M. Gerstein, Michael H. Decker, Assessment of the Proliferation of Certain Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems, RAND (RR-2369), 2018
LtCol JD Williams (Principal Author), Marine Corps Concept Paper: Sustained Operations Ashore, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, 1998
John Schmitt & LtCol JD Williams, Marine Corps Doctrinal Publication 2: Intelligence, Marine Corps Combat Development Command, 1997
JD Williams, "Launch on Warning in Soviet Nuclear Strategy," Air University Review, 1986