Richard Kugler Richard L . Kugler is an American thinker and writer on U . S . national security policy and defense strategy . Life and work . Dr . Kugler is a widely known , heavily published thinker , writer , and scholar on U . S . national security policy and defense strategy . He is especially known for his analyses of complex policy issues and options , and for producing innovative policies , strategies , plans , programs , and budgets that help shape official thinking . He has been one of the original architects of NATO enlargement as well as multiple other U . S . policy departures in Europe , Asia , and the Persian Gulf . He was a Distinguished Research Professor at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy ( CTNSP ) of the National Defense University , and is now a senior consultant there . He advises senior echelons of the Office of Secretary of Defense ( OSD ) , the Joint Staff , and the interagency community . He is author or editor of eighteen books in his field , along with many journal articles in " Foreign Affairs " , " Survival " , and other journals , book chapters , and official studies . Dr . Kugler , along with F . Stephen Larrabee and Ronald D . Asmus Ronald Asmus were the three RAND analysts who helped establish the US approach toward NATO Enlargement . RAND publicly portrayed this work as one of its most significant accomplishments in over 50 years . The principal work on NATO Enlargement was presented in a Foreign Affairs article ( " Building a New NATO ) and two Survival articles ( Strategic Options and Budget Costs for NATO Enlargement . The London Times portrayed their work as helping redraw the political and military map of Europe . Other noteworthy collaborators of Dr . Kugler are Dr . Hans Binnendjk , Mr . David Gompert David Gompert , Dr . Paul Davis , and Mr . Peter Flory Assistant Secretary of Defense for Global Strategic Affairs . A political scientist , defense economist , and operations research analyst , Dr . Kugler holds a Ph . D . from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology . From 1988 - 1997 , he was a research leader at the public think tank , the RAND Corporation . From 1984 - 1988 , he was director of Department of Defense ' s ( DOD ) Strategic Concepts Development Center , where he advised the Secretary of Defense and Chairman , Joint Chiefs of Staff . From 1975 to 1984 , he was a senior executive in the Office of Secretary of Defense . During 1968 - 1972 , he was a United States Air Force officer , including a tour in Southeast Asia . He has been awarded the Distinguished Civilian Service Medal , the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal , the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal , and other decorations . Dr . Kugler has also taught graduate courses at RAND , Georgetown University and George Washington University in Security Policy Studies ( Defense Analysis using Operations Research / Systems Analysis Techniques for policy analysis ) . Kugler was an adjunct professor of international relations at both universities . Many of his students have gone on to senior level positions in DOD , US Department of State , NATO and other national and international policy - oriented organizations . See Amazon . com Richard L . Kugler books at http : / / www . amazon . com / s / ref = ntt _ athr _ dp _ sr _ 1 ? _ encoding = UTF8 & field - author = Richard % 20L . % 20Kugler & ie = UTF8 & search - alias = books & sort = relevancerank Books and documents . Dr . Kugler has written thousands of pages of original analysis for the Department of Defense . A great deal of Dr . Kugler ' s work has been used as the basis for U . S . national security policy during each administration from 1977 to the current administration of President Barack Obama . Dr . Kugler is an analyst and is not involved in politics . References . See Also : NATO . int ; NATO . int / archives ; NATO - Russia - Council . info ; Wikipedia : Nuclear Program of Iran Nuclear program of Iran