Audrey Kurth Cronin

Audrey Kurth Cronin joined the faculty of American University’s School of International Service in August 2016. Her previous position was Director of the Center for Security Policy Studies, and Director of the International Security Program at George Mason University. Before that, she was a faculty member and director of the core course on War and Statecraft at the U.S. National War College (2007-2011). Professor Cronin’s career has combined academic positions and government service. She came to the war college from Oxford University (Nuffield College), where she was Academic Director of Studies for the Oxford/Leverhulme Programme on the Changing Character of War (2005-2007). Before that, she was Specialist in Terrorism at the Congressional Research Service, advising Members of Congress in the aftermath of 9/11. She has also served in the U.S. Executive branch, including in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy; the Office of the Secretary of the Navy; and the American Embassy in Moscow. She often consults at senior levels of the U.S. government. Professor Cronin is widely published on strategy and nonstate actors. Her 2009 book, which The New Yorker called "a landmark study," was How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns (Princeton University Press). Her latest book is Power to the People: How Open Technological Innovation is Arming Tomorrow's Terrorists (Oxford University Press), which analyzes digital technology's role in inciting extremism. It won the prestigious 2020 Airey Neave book prize.