EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Ben Connable, PhD, is the executive director of the Battle Research Group. He also is adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University, an on-call principal research scientist at the Center for Naval Analyses, and an advisor to a peace and development institute. Ben is a retired Marine Corps intelligence and Middle East foreign area officer, former senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation, and an advisor to several boards. Ben earned his PhD in War Studies from King’s College London.
JAMES SLADDEN
Field RESEARCH DIRECTOR
James Sladden is an historian and journalist. He was the lead author of the Battle of Irpin River – an oral history of the fight for north west Kyiv. He has published on drones and crowd-funded aid convoys in Ukraine, winning Feature of the Year in the 2024 NCTJ Awards for Excellence. James worked as a high-risk adviser to international media, including the BBC, CNN and ITN, and as an international monitoring officer for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine. James is a former RAND Corporation researcher. He has a PhD in History from the University of Cambridge. He received a master’s degree from the Strategy and Security Institute at the University of Exeter, where he was an Excellence Scholar. Prior to this James served in the British military.
MICHAEL J. MCNERNEY
Nonresident Senior Fellow
Michael J. McNerney is a former defense Senior Executive Service leader and research scientist. He was the Principal Director for Plans and Posture at the Office of the Secretary of Defense, visiting faculty at the Marshall Center, Director of Analysis, and former Director of the Civilian Protection Center of Excellence. Mike was a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation and acting center director and was an analyst at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He earned his BA from Notre Dame and his MA from University of Maryland.
DAN WILKOFSKY
SENIOR RESEARCHER
Dan Wilkofsky is a researcher and journalist focused on the Middle East. He writes primarily about under-reported human rights issues, including child recruitment in Syria and Yemen, and Jordan’s parallel system of tribal justice. Dan currently works as a senior researcher at DT Institute. Previously he was a lead analyst at the Navanti Group and an editor at Syria Direct. He started his career with an intensive postgraduate Arabic fellowship and speaks fluent Arabic.
JOSEPH MATHERS
RESEARCH Fellow
Joseph Mathers is an aspiring defense analyst and military historian. His first book, War in Ukraine Volume 8: The Battle of Kyiv, February-April 2022, was published as part of Helion & Company's Europe@War series in July 2025. Joseph has a BA in Politics and International Relations from the University of Exeter, where he received the Victor Wiseman Politics Prize, and an MA in War Studies from King's College London, where he received the Sir Lawrence Freedman Award.
ANDREW SIMMS
CHIEF EDITOR
Andrew Simms is an award-winning feature writer and magazine editor, who has reported from the front line in Kosovo, Macedonia and Afghanistan, and in 2003 was embedded with British troops in Iraq. Formerly the editor-in-chief of Soldier, the official magazine of the British Army, he was named New Editor of the Year in 2007 by the Association of Communicators in Business, short-listed as Editor of the Year by the British Society of Magazine Editors in 2008 and 2007 and guided the title to the Chartered Institute of Public Relations’ Best internal magazine in Britain award in 2011, 2010 and 2009 and the Institute of Internal Communications’ Best internal news magazine accolade in 2011 and 2010. Andrew also provides editorial support to the British Army's Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, managing the think tank's portfolio of print and digital assets; which includes the editorship of The British Army Review.
ANTHONY ATLER
NONRESIDENT SENIOR FIELD RESEARCHER
Anthony Atler is a senior defense analyst at RAND. His research for the U.S. government supports military planning, the development of operational concepts, and force structure design. He has collected data in conflict areas and advised senior defense officials in Iraq, Chad and Cameroon. Anthony is a former Marine Corps infantry officer, deploying to Ramadi, Iraq twice between 2005 and 2007. He received a master’s degree in Global Business Leadership from the University of San Diego and a bachelor’s degree in physics from the U.S. Naval Academy.
Alex is a former Royal Marine officer who completed a 24-year military career in 2012. He experienced numerous operational theatres including: Northern Ireland, Iraq, Afghanistan, West Africa, and the Caribbean. This included combat, counterinsurgency, humanitarian, non-combatant evacuation and disaster relief operations.
A 'foreign service' officer, he has been seconded in a military capacity to the United States Marine Corps (USMC), the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the British Army in Northern Ireland. He has particular expertise working in austere environments, with security and cultural challenges. In a civilian capacity he has been seconded by the UK government to the United Nations, working alongside military colleagues from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabian Navy and the Djiboutian National authorities.
He has Master's degrees in Defence and International Relations (Kings College London) and Leadership (Leeds Trinity). Most recently he has started a small business, focussing on expedition and research photography.
ALEX MURRAY MBE
SENIOR FELLOW
MAX SOSSIN
NONRESIDENT FELLOW
Max Sossin is a professional machine learning engineer with a longstanding interest in history, geopolitics, and the study of warfare. He enjoys exploring how machine learning can be used to investigate questions outside of traditional technical domains, particularly ones where the data is messier and less quantitative.