Thomas F. Lynch III

Distinguished Research Fellow, CSMP

Lynch III, Thomas F.

Areas of Expertise:  Asia and the Indo-Pacific (South and Central Asia); Great Power Competition (GPC); Middle East and North Africa (Gulf Arab States); Counter-terrorism

Dr. Thomas F. Lynch III is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Center for Strategy and Military Power (CSMP) at the Institute of National Strategic Studies (INSS) of the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, D.C.  Dr. Lynch researches, writes, lectures, teaches, and provides in-person expertise during the development and high-level execution of Joint warfighting exercises and simulations. His work for senior Department of Defense, Joint Staff and Combatant Command leaders focuses on the topics of Great Power Competition (GPC) & geopolitics, India’s strategic rise, Afghanistan-Pakistan & wider South Asia, the Gulf Arab States, and the past & future trajectory of radical Islam. His primary ongoing research is focused on GPC and on India’s strategic rise and implications for Indo-Pacific security and stability. Dr. Lynch has published four books including as editor of the forthcoming Strategic Assessment 2025: Great Power Competition at Mid-Decade (NDU Press, 2025). He also has published over twenty book chapters and more than forty feature monographs and journal articles.

Dr. Lynch joined INSS after a 28 year career in the active duty U.S. Army, serving in a variety of command and staff positions as an armor/cavalry officer and as a senior level politico-military analyst including as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff & Deputy Director of the Chairman’s Advisory & Initiatives Group; Commander of the U.S. Army War Theater Support Group in Doha, Qatar; Director of the Advisory Group for the Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM); and Military Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan.

Dr. Lynch provides expert commentary on an array of public-facing media including as a feature analyst on national and international podcasts, webinars, videos, and television & radio appearances. He is a member of the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and an adjunct professor in the Security Studies Program in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He holds a B.S. from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, a Master’s in Public Administration (MPA) and a Masters (M.A.) & Ph.D. in International Relations from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

Selected Warfighter Support Activities & Publications

Warfighter Support Simulations and Exercises:

  • EXERCISE ELITE CONSTELLATION 2025 - THE ROAD TO WAR (2025)
  • EXERCISE ELITE CONSTELLATION 2025 - SETTING THE GLOBE (2024-2025)
  • EXERCISE CYBER SHIELD 2022
  • RCNSC WARFIGHTING SIMULATION - SINO-INDIAN CONFLICT (2016-2019)
  • USSTRATCOM TTX 15-1 - THE ROAD TO WAR (2014-2015)
  • EXERCISE INTRINSIC ACTION 2014
  • EXERCISE INTRINSIC ACTION 2013
  • EXERCISE INTRINSIC ACTION 2012

     

Books:

  • Strategic Assessment 2025: Great Power Competition at Mid-Decade. Thomas F. Lynch III ed. (Washington, D.C.: NDU-Press, Forthcoming in 2025)
  • Strategic Assessment 2020: Into a New Era of Great Power Competition. Thomas F. Lynch III ed. (Washington, D.C.: NDU-Press, 2020)
  • Military Factors and Conventional Arms Control: The Impact of Technology and Doctrine Upon Conventional Military Offensiveness and Arms Control. (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press Dissertation Service, 1995).
  • Understanding International Relations: The Value of Alternative Lenses. Thomas F. Lynch III, Asa Clark & Ricky Waddell eds. (New York, NY: McGraw Hill, 1993)

Book Chapters:

Articles:

Monographs:

Op-Eds & Podcasts: