Douglas A. Ollivant is a Senior Fellow in the Middle East Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He is a Managing Partner of Mantid International, LLC, a global strategic consulting firm focusing on compliance and anti-corruption, with offices in Washington D.C., Guam, Beirut, and Baghdad.  He also holds an appointment as a senior fellow at New America.  A retired Army officer (Lieutenant Colonel), his last position in government was as Director for Iraq at the National Security Council during both the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He served two tours in uniform in Iraq, spent a year as a contractor/advisor in Afghanistan and taught politics at West Point.

An Oregon native and graduate of Wheaton College in Illinois, Ollivant holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Indiana University, and is a graduate of the U.S. Army’s School of Advanced Military Studies. He is a frequent television commentator on defense and Middle East issues.  A life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Political Science Association, he also serves in various advisory capacities to a wide range of firms. He is a widely published essayist and is a contributing editor of War on the Rocks.  He is presently researching the topics of Hybrid and Proxy Warrior/Warfare, and Grand Strategy in the Middle East, as well as writing on the Iraq conflict and reconstruction, 2003-present.

He proudly resides on the Rappahannock River in Central Virginia with his wife, Sabrina.