Deputy Director
Major John W. Spencer currently serves as the MWI Deputy Director and Strategic Planner for the Department of Military Instruction. He is the Course Director of DS497 Strategic Studies Capstone and instructor for DS320 Landpower. Prior to his assignment to the United States Military Academy, he served as a year-long fellow with the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group.
He enlisted in the US Army in 1993. He served as an enlisted Soldier in the Infantry for eight years, reaching the rank of Sergeant First Class, before attending Officer Candidate School in 2001 where he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry.
He served as a strategic planner in the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Manpower and Reserve Affairs and Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, G1 Strategic Initiatives Group and as an Action Officer in the Joint Staff Joint Force Development, J7 Joint Exercise and Training Division.
His past assignments include two combat deployments to Iraq as both an Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Commander. He also served as a Ranger Instructor with the Army’s Ranger School.
He holds a Master of Policy Management from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Science in Management Studies from University of Maryland University College. He is also a graduate of the Army’s Command and General Staff College.
His writing has appeared in The New York Times, USA Today, LA Times, NY Daily News, Wired Magazine, Politico, The Hill, Foreign Policy Magazine, Defense One, Army Magazine, and many other publications.
He lives in West Point, NY, with his wife and three children. He looks forward to connecting via Twitter @SpencerGuard.
Major Spencer’s publications include:
Professional Articles
“Giving military equipment to police will not lead to safer streets,” The Modern War Institute, 20 September 2017
“A Better Approach to Urban Operations: Treat Cities like Human Bodies,” The Modern War Institute, 13 September 2017
“Why America Is Destroying Iraqi Cities to Save Them,” The National Interest, 23 August 2017
“The City Is the Battlefield of the Future,” The Wall Street Journal, 19 July 2017
“Three ‘War Hacks’ for Urban Combat,” The Modern War Institute, 03 July 2017
“So You Think the Army Can Avoid Fighting in Megacities,” The Modern War Institute, 16 May 2017, (coauthored)
“The Army Needs an Urban Warfare School and it Needs it Soon,” The Modern War Institute, 05 April 2017
“We don’t need more money to defeat ISIS. We need more stats,” The Hill, 22 March 2017, (coauthored)
“What an Army Megacities Unit Would Look Like,” Modern War Institute, 08 March 2017
“It’s time to Create a Megacities Combat Unit,” Modern War Institute, 31 January 2017
“To Help Vets, Overhaul How We Treat PTSD,” The Hill, 31 January 2017, (coauthored)
“To Win at War, Make America Fit Again,” The Hill, 12 January 2017, (coauthored)
“To Understand PTSD, Send Scientist to War,” Wired Magazine, 12 January 2017
“Grenade Launchers and Bed Sheets: An Invisibility Kit for Urban Combat,” Modern War Institute, 12 December 2016
“Ranger School is not Ranger School is Not a Leadership School,” Modern War Institute, 06 December 2016
“The Most Effective Weapon on the Modern Battlefield is Concrete,” Modern War Institute, 14 November 2016
“If We Really Want Women in Combat, Men Must Do More,” Los Angeles Times, 12 October 2016
“Unplug, Soldier! Too Much Online Time is Hurting the Army,” Defense One, 27 September 2016
“Going Off-Duty Doesn’t Protect Online Behavior,” Army Magazine, August 2016, (coauthored)
“How to rethink the U.S. military’s troop deployment policy,” Politico, 27 July 2016
“No, Actually Transgender Soldiers Make Us A Stronger Military,” The Huffington Post, 13 July 2016
“The Softer American,” Modern War Institute, 05 July 2016
“The Challenges of Ranger School and How to Overcome Them,” Modern War Institute, 12 April 2016
“Horse Soldiers in Afghanistan and the Cost of War,” Modern War Institute, 11 April 2016
“What is Army Doctrine?” Modern War Institute, 21 March 2016
“Wanted: Bullet Stopping Breakthroughs,” Modern War Institute, 17 February 2016
“An Army of sound mind and body,” NY Daily News, 8 February 2016
“Right Question, Right Tools,” Modern War Institute, 18 January 2016
“Now women need to seek those combat jobs,” USA Today, 9 January 2016
“The military’s real problem: Fewer Americans are joining,” Politico, 15 December 2015
“From Army of One to Band of Tweeters,” The New York Times, 5 November 2015
“It’s not ‘a man, man’s world’ and neither is war: Gender integration in the Infantry,” Foreign Policy Magazine, 15 September 2015
“General, Tear Down that Wall: Gender and the Infantry,” War on the Rocks, 31 August 2015
“Cadets discuss subterranean environments with NYC firefighters,” The Pointer View, 12 March 2015
“Challenging Army Force Design,” Small Wars Journal, 22 September 2014
Published Interviews
“Combat Stories from the Invasion of Iraq,” The Modern War Institute, Podcast: The Spear, 26 July 2017
“Mosul Victory Marks Win for Pentagon Training Plan,” Agence France-Presse (AFP), 13 July 2017
“Fort Drum Shooting Raises Questions About Army Recruitment Process,” All Things Considered, NPR, 13 July 2017
“Women in the infantry: How the Army is growing its first female enlisted grunts,” The Army Times, 21 May 2017
“How is Mosul Being Liberated?” BBC Inquiry, BBC World Service, 07 March 2017
“The Most Effective Technology in Modern War Is Concrete, Argues Military Scholar,” Vice, 21 November 2016
“Opening Shock: Four Combat Jump Veterans Tell Their Stories,” West Point Center for Oral History, 21 July 2016
“Big Picture Science Radio Show – Look Who’s Not Talking,” Big Picture Science, NPR, 15 December 2015