Leadership.

Dr. Thomas Searle

Deputy Regional Adviser for U.S. Central Command and U.S. Southern Command

Email: thomas.r.searle.ctr@mail.mil

Dr. Thomas Searle is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer. During an almost thirty-year military career he deployed to combat with every U.S. Army Special Forces Group, every Ranger Battalion, and every Squadron in 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment as well as most Naval Special Warfare, Air Force Special Operations and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) elements.

Inside the continental United States, Dr. Searle served in staff positions at three and four-star level Joint Headquarters in the JSOC J7, working on counterterrorism history and lessons learned, the CENTCOM J2, working on Afghanistan and Pakistan issues, and the SOCOM J5, working on the Global Campaign Plan to counter Violet Extremist Organizations.

Dr. Searle also served in research positions at the Air Force Research Institute and the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) and taught for six years in the JSOU Graduate Program in Advanced Special Operations in addition to teaching courses at the Naval Postgraduate School.

Dr. Searle holds a B.S.E. in Civil Engineering from Princeton University, an M.S.S. Strategic Studies from the Army War College, and a Ph.D. in History from Duke University.

Dr. Searle is the author of many classified studies of irregular warfare and special operations including the official history of the origins and development of the Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, Disseminate (F3EAD) targeting cycle. His most influential unclassified book is “Outside the Box: A New General Theory of Special Operations.” His recent unclassified publications include:

    • · “Ten Surprising Lessons for Special Operations Forces from the First Eighteen Months of Putin’s Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine” with Christopher Marsh, and Brian Petit, INTER POPULUM (2023).
    • · “Counterterrorism is Strategic Competition”, INTER POPULUM: (2023).
    • · “The Future of Irregular Warfare: The United States is Winning, Now What?” Irregular Warfare Center, (2024).
    • · “The Enduring Requirement for Counterterrorism” in James D. Kiras and Martijn Kitzen, eds., Into the Void: Special Operations Forces after the War on Terror, ( 2024).
    • · “Towards a Better Irregular Warfare Strategy: A Contrarian View” in Varsha Koduvayur, James Kiras, and Richard Newton, eds. The Future Faces of Irregular Warfare: Great Power Competition in the 21st Century, (2024).
    • · “Terrorism and Irregular Warfare: The Four-Headed Challenge of Massed Terrorists, Terrorist Dispersal, State-Sponsored Terrorism, and Terrorist Franchising” in Varsha Koduvayur, James Kiras, and Richard Newton, eds. The Future Faces of Irregular Warfare: Great Power Competition in the 21st Century, (2024).
    • · “Escalation and Irregular Warfare: We Need to Be Irregular Warfare Hustlers, Not Just Irregular Warfare World Champions”, Military Review, (2024).
    • · “Many Ways to Be Irregular: The Real Definition of Irregular Warfare and How it Helps Us”, Inter Populum, (2024).
    • · “Nine Critical Lessons from Israel’s October 7 War and What They Mean for SOF”, Small Wars Journal, (2025).
    • · “2024 Was Another Great Year for the U.S. in IW”, Small Wars Journal, (2025).

He currently serves as Deputy Regional Adviser for CENTCOM and SOUTHCOM in the Irregular Warfare Center where he provides advice, assistance, and education to U.S. and partner forces conducting irregular warfare in the CENTCOM and SOUTHCOM areas of operations