Liam Collins

Founding Director, Modern War Institute, United States Military Academy West Point
Liam Collins is the executive director of the Madison Policy Forum, a senior fellow with New America, and a permanent member with the Council on Foreign Relations. He is co-editor of the recently released Routledge Handbook of U.S. Counterterrorism and Irregular Warfare Operations.

Colonel (retired) Collins served in the U.S. Army for 27 years. As a career Special Forces officer, he conducted multiple operational and combat deployments to Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, South America, and the Horn of Africa. Liam retired from the military in 2019 as the founding Director of the Modern War Institute and the Director of the Department of Military Instruction at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Previously he served as General (retired) Abizaid’s executive officer for his Secretary of Defense appointment as the Senior Defense Advisor to Ukraine, and as the director of West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center.

The author of dozens of articles and reports related to terrorism, conflict, and innovation, Liam’s work has been cited by the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security & Counterterrorism, the White House Press Secretary, The New York Times, the Associated Press, CNN, ABC News, Fox News, NPR, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

Liam’s military awards and decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Bronze Star Medal (with “V” device for valor), Army Commendation Medal (with “V” device for valor), Special Forces Tab, Ranger Tab, Sapper Tab, Master Parachutist Badge, and Military Free Fall Badge with Bronze Star (for combat jump). An accomplished athlete and coach, he has competed as an athlete and coached teams in different sports at multiple world championships. He won the Army’s Best Ranger Competition in 2007 and was selected as the Army’s Coach of the Year in 2011. He also has two multi-million dollar winning thoroughbred racehorses named after him.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering (Aerospace) from the United States Military Academy, and a Master’s in Public Affairs and a PhD from Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs.