Leadership.
Dr. Dennis Walters
Director
As the Director of the Irregular Warfare Center, Dr. Walters draws on more than three decades of
operational and academic expertise to guide the Defense Department and the Interagency
approach to conflict and competition, focusing on irregular warfare.
Dr. Walters enlisted in the United States Army as an Infantryman in 1983 and was selected as
one of the original members of the re-activated 3/75th Ranger Battalion. He was commissioned
into the Army Intelligence Corps in 1994 and soon applied for and completed the Special Forces
Qualification Course. He was assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group where he led a Special
Forces Operational Detachment Alpha and deployed with them to the Balkans in combat
operations in Kosovo and Serbia. As a fluent Russian speaker, in 2001, he was sent to work with
the Russian Army in Tajikistan to support the U.S. response to 9/11.
Following his tactical assignments, Dr. Walters served as a senior military advisor to the
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict (ASD/SOLIC)
for counterterrorism.
In 2009, Dr. Walters retired from the Army and began building a global network of irregular
warfare professionals for the ASD/SOLIC. His novel approach of using education to bridge
cultures and build global networks resulted in the largest network of IW professionals and set the
foundations for the creation of the Irregular Warfare Center. Today the network consists of more
than 25,000 people from 120 countries, supports U.S. national security, and enhances U.S.
interoperability with allies and partners around the globe.
Dr. Walters has instructed courses on irregular warfare at the National Defense University and is
a published author in the field, including, “DOD’s Irregular Warfare Center: Building
Partnerships by Opening Up the Tent”; “The Benefits of Wargaming and Futurism for Irregular
Warfare Professionals”; and “National Security Challenges and Irregular Warfare in the 21st
Century”. He has also taught at Regent University, where he developed one of the first graduate
courses on strategic defense futures. Dr. Walters’ educational background includes a doctorate in
Strategic Leadership with a focus on Strategic Defense Futures from Regent University, a
master’s degree in public policy from Georgetown University, and a bachelor’s degree in
international relations with a focus on Russian language from Methodist University.
