Founders & Partners
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Douglas A. Ollivant Douglas A. Ollivant is a principal in the area of strategic advisory specializing in the intersection of technology, critical infrastructure, and post-conflict/emerging markets. He is also a Senior National Security Fellow with the New America Foundation. He most recently spent one year as the Senior Counterinsurgency Advisor to the Commander, Regional Command-East at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan. Mr. Ollivant is a recently retired Army officer whose last duty assignment was as Director for Iraq at the National Security Council during both the Bush and Obama administrations. Reporting to the Deputy National Security Advisor for Iraq and Afghanistan, he was responsible for coordinating all aspects of security and coalition operations among diverse government agencies, including the orderly disbanding of the Iraq coalition, coordinating the plan for "change of mission" in August of 2010, and the transfer of police training responsibilities from the Department of Defense to the Department of State. Prior to his posting at the White House, Mr. Ollivant served in Iraq as the Chief of Plans for Multi National Division Baghdad in 2006-2007. During this time he led the planning team that designed the Baghdad Security Plan, the main effort of what later became known as the "Surge." Mr. Ollivant was also a key player in the establishment of the "Sons of Iraq" in Baghdad province and was identified as a member of General Petraeus' "brain trust." He also served an earlier tour in Iraq as a Battalion Operations Officer and is a veteran of the battles of Najaf Cemetery and Second Fallujah. Mr. Ollivant holds an earned doctorate from Indiana University, is a graduate of the U.S. Army's School of Advanced Military Studies and has written essays and book reviews on a wide variety of topics. He is a frequent television commentator on defense and Middle East issues, and a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Political Science Association. |