James Finch
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Dr. Finch is a scholar-practitioner with a focus on U.S. foreign policy, national security, and alliance politics. He is currently the Director of Korean Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. Dr. Finch has held numerous leadership positions across the Department of Defense focused on alliance management, countering weapons of mass destruction, and outer space. He has also served as an attaché at the U.S. Mission to NATO and represented the Department of Defense at the United Nations. Dr. Finch’s dissertation and academic interests focus on Asian security, and the impact of the operation and management of alliances on foreign policy and regional orders.
Dr. Finch holds a PhD in War Studies from King’s College London; a Master of Arts in International Affairs from The George Washington University; a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (Distinguished Graduate); and a Bachelor of Arts, with honors, in Political Science from the University of Kentucky (Phi Beta Kappa).
He has completed leadership programs at the Air War College, the Army War College, the Federal Executive Institute, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and was in the first cohort of the Defense Senior Leader Development Program.