Theo Milonopoulos

Theo Milonopoulos is an Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the United States Naval War College. His research interests include civil-military relations, military strategy, bureaucratic politics, and the influence of domestic politics on American foreign policy.

Theo Milonopoulos was a predoctoral fellow at the Clements Center from 2019 to 2021 while pursuing his Ph.D. in political science at Columbia University. His dissertation, “No Wider War: Civil-Military Relations, Mid-War Decision-Making, and the Escalation and Termination of Armed Conflict,” examines the ability of the president’s top military and civilian advisors to influence decision-making and strategic reassessment during the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

From 2009 to 2011, he served as a lead research assistant to former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as she wrote her memoirs at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. He previously held research assistant and intern positions at the RAND Corporation, the Center for New American Security (CNAS), the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in London, and Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC). A graduate of Stanford University with honors in international security studies, Theo received an MA in War Studies at King’s College London, where he studied as a Fulbright Scholar.