Areas of Expertise: Joint Professional Military Education; Operational Planning; Asia and the Pacific; Europe; Deterrence; Nuclear Policy; Missile Defense
Dr. William T. Eliason, Colonel, USAF (Retired), is the Director of the National Defense University Press and Editor of Joint Force Quarterly, the professional military journal of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and serves as an Adjunct Professor, Defense Strategy and Resources at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at Ft McNair in Washington, DC. He holds the academic rank of University Professor. Prior to arriving at NDU, Colonel Eliason served for over 30 years on active duty in a variety of operational and staff positions as a Master Air Battle Manager qualified as an aircrew member in U.S. and NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (E-3) aircraft and commander of a Control and Reporting Center (CRC). He is a graduate of every level of USAF professional military education including Class III of the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies. His service included duty in (or above) nearly 40 countries and at every level of command in the USAF as well as duty with Joint and NATO commands including service on the staffs at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the Air Staff at The Pentagon, Seventh Air Force in Korea and the United States Joint Forces Command.
Colonel Eliason completed his military career on the faculty of the Joint Advanced Warfighting School at the National Defense University’s Joint Forces Staff College while simultaneously earning his doctorate in international studies from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. He served as the second leader of the school during an intense period of growth and expanding positive impact on the Joint Force. One of the USAF’s leading strategists, decorated combat squadron commander and theater campaign planner, he was hand-picked to lead a campaign assessment team to Kabul, Afghanistan where he worked directly for the ISAF Commander to refine the command’s approach to that conflict. While clearly an Airman at heart, Dr. Eliason brings a wealth of U.S. Air Force, Joint, Combined, and Interagency experience and contacts as well as a professor’s inside view of joint professional military education to his position. His academic interests lie in history and international relations with his specific focus on U.S. leadership in nuclear arms control agreements and non-proliferation. He is also a volunteer with the Civil Air Patrol, the USAF Auxiliary, as a mission pilot performing search and rescue, public affairs and professional development duties for the National Capital Wing.