Biography: Ben Connable
Dr. Ben Connable is an independent research leader, consultant, and professor. He is an adjunct professor in the Georgetown University Security Studies Program, a part-time principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, and the senior research advisor to DT Institute, a peace and development nonprofit organization centered in Washington, D.C.
Ben consults, speaks, and writes independently and for individual sponsors of his work. Recent consulting work includes course design and instruction to international military and civilian officers on insurgency and counterinsurgency for the U.S. Government; confidential business intelligence analysis; and research leadership on the will to fight of the Russian land forces. He recently guest lectured at the National Defense University and Marine Corps War College.
Ben is a retired U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and Middle East-North Africa Foreign Area Officer (FAO). He enlisted in 1988 and served at the Marine Barracks 8th and I and at the Presidential Retreat at Camp David before joining 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines as an infantry machine-gunner for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Ben gained his commission through the Marine Corps Enlisted Commissioning Program (MECEP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder.
From 1995 through 2002, Ben served as a law enforcement platoon commander and executive officer at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; as a planning officer and company commander with the 4th Marine Regiment at Camp Schwab on Okinawa, Japan; and as a student at the Naval Postgraduate School and Arabic language course at the Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California.
From 2003 to 2006, Ben served as the Middle East intelligence desk officer at the Marine Corps headquarters in Washington, D.C. During this period he deployed three times to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served as an intelligence operations officer and cultural advisor during the invasion, and then in Ramadi and Fallujah. During his last tour he served as the senior intelligence analyst in Anbar Province, Iraq.
From 2006 through 2009, Ben co-led the Marine Corps cultural intelligence program in Quantico, Virginia, and served as the Marine and Naval Attaché to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He retired from the Marine Corps in 2009 and joined the RAND Corporation.
From 2009 through 2021, Ben worked as a senior political scientist at RAND where he conducted and led research on regional, organizational, strategic, and human behavioral topics for primarily U.S. Government sponsors. He led over 20 research teams and managed over USD$20m in research funds. He received four RAND medals for research excellence, leadership, and innovation, including the Leonard Schaeffer Medal, RAND's top honor, for work on international support to peace and development in Yemen.
Ben taught a course on insurgency and counterinsurgency at Georgetown University's Security Studies Master of Arts Program from 2016 through 2020. He now teaches a new SSP course on the dynamics of human behavior in warfare.
Ben joined DT Institute as the Director of Research in 2020. He developed the Institute's research and learning program and fellowship program. At DT Institute, Ben directed and conducted research on a wide array of global development topics and co-managed engagements with academia, donors, think tanks, and experts. Currently he advises institute leadership on research priorities and conducts research on important peace and development issues.
In early 2022, Ben joined the Atlantic Council as a senior nonresident fellow. He worked with the Iraq team and wrote on diverse issues related to the Middle East, NATO, and war fighting. He co-led the Iraq Engagement Project (IEP) from 2023-2024, successfully bringing together former ambassadors and senior Iraqi political leaders to further a range of security, peace, and development issues.
In early 2024 Ben left the Atlantic Council after wrapping up the IEP and assumed a part-time, on-call position as a principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses. At CNA, Ben will work on military force development and security issues.
Ben is the author of the forthcoming book, Ground Combat: Puncturing the Myths of Modern War (Georgetown University Press, 2025).
Ben received his PhD in War Studies from King's College London in 2016. He has a BA in political science from the University of Colorado and an MA in national security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School.