T Lynch

Dr. Thomas F. Lynch III is a Distinguished Research Fellow for South Asia and the Near East at the Institute of National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington, D.C.


He researches, writes, lectures and organizes workshops and conferences for Department of Defense customers on the topics of Pakistan, Afghanistan, India & the Subcontinent, the Gulf Arab States, counterterrorism, and the past & future trajectory of radical Islam. Dr. Lynch has traveled widely and lived in several South Asian and Gulf Arab States. His ongoing research into the evolving political, economic and and security dynamics of South Asia, the Near East and radical Islam takes him frequently to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Iraq and the UAE. Dr. Lynch lectures regularly on his research topics in courses taught at the three colleges of National Defense University (NDU). He sustains an ongoing dialogue with numerous think tanks and security scholars across South Asia and the Near East. He is frequently cited as an expert commentator on national and international programs including FOX News television, Al Jazeera International television (Qatar), Alhurra television, Express-24/7 television (Pakistan), Voice of America radio and television (Afghanistan and the Middle East), FOX News radio, ABC News radio, McClatchy News Service and the Associated Press (AP). Dr. Lynch is a retired U.S. Army officer who served for 28 years in a variety of command and staff positions including as a Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff & Deputy Director of the Chairman’s Advisory & Initiatives Group; Commander of the U.S. Army War Theater Support Group in Doha, Qatar; Director of the Advisory Group for the Commander, U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM); and Military Special Assistant to the U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan. He spent 42 of 44 months from 2004-07 on assignment in the Middle East and South Asia supporting OPERATIONS ENDURING & IRAQI FREEDOM. Dr. Lynch has taught graduate student courses on small wars and insurgency, economic analysis of substate violence, and the politics and security of South Asia as an adjunct faculty at Princeton University and the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University. He also taught undergraduate courses in international relations, political economy, arms control, national security decision making, and political science research methodology as a preceptor at Princeton Univesity and an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Dr. Lynch is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, the International Studies Association and the Arms Control Association.