Scott Gerber

Scott Gerber is a Research Staff Member at the Institute for Defense Analyses and an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Walsh School of Foreign Service Security Studies Program.

Scott is a career practitioner of national security. He spent thirty years in the United States Army, primarily serving as an officer in combat formations. He deployed on two peacekeeping tours in the Balkans and three combat tours in Iraq during that time. Shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Scott established the Russia Strategic Initiative in EUCOM. In that role, Scott helped the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Supreme Allied Commander NATO re-orient U.S. and allied strategy in the face of renewed Russian aggression. He also led the effort to manage escalation risks with Russia during the April 2017 strikes into Syria.

In his final assignment, Scott helped establish the U.S. Army Strategy Support Element. While there, he built the Army Strategy Board to enable the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the Army to integrate sensitive analyses into critical strategic choices.

Shortly after his retirement from the Army, Scott accepted an executive appointment as the director of the Army Strategy Board. In that capacity, he also served as a senior officer in the Intelligence Community.

He received a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University, where he wrote on Russian New Type Warfare and deterrence failure. Scott’s research interests include deterrence, U.S., Russian, and Chinese security policy, non-military means of conflict, and how the information era influences warfare, stability, and deterrence. He holds a Master’s in Engineering Management from the University of Kansas and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematical Economics from the United States Military Academy.