Richard H. Shultz


Richard H. Shultz Jr. was an American scholar of international security studies. He was Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of International Security Studies at The Fletcher [School of Law and Diplomacy], Tufts University, where he was also the director of the International Security Studies Program (ISSP).

Early life and education

Shultz was born on October 25, 1947. According to his published CV, Shultz pursued his PhD studies at Miami University, graduating in 1976. His dissertation was titled Origins and Development of U.S. Counterinsurgency Strategy: The Vietnam Case Study, chaired by David S. McLellan. He then pursued post-doctoral studies at the University of Michigan, from 1977 to 1978.

Career

Shultz entered the Fletcher School and ISSP in 1983, as the associate professor of international politics. He became the director of ISSP in 1989.
He was an expert and early scholar of insurgency, with his early works including influential research on guerrilla warfare in Vietnam. He was also an expert on terrorism, intelligence gathering, internal conflicts, and low intensity conflict.
Shultz served on the Special Operations Policy Advisory Group of the U.S. Department of Defense, where he was the only civilian in that position. He also did security research and served as advisor for several U.S. civil and military organizations, and held chairs at the U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval War College, and the U.S. Department of Defense. He has testified in the U.S. congress.
Shultz was a member of several boards of trustees, including the Board to the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. His consultant work for the government has focused on U.S. peacekeeping policy, out-of-area interventions, counter-proliferation issues, and the growing impact of international organized crime on U.S. security interests.

Death

Shultz died on November 22, 2025, at the age of 78.

Publications

Books authored

  • The Marines Take Anbar: The Four-Year Fight to Defeat al Qaeda in Iraq
  • Insurgents, Terrorists, and Militias: The Warriors of Contemporary Combat, co-authored with Andrea Dew
  • The Secret War Against Hanoi: Kennedy and Johnson's Use of Spies, Saboteurs, and Covert Warriors in North Vietnam
  • The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Warfare
  • Dezinformatsia: Active Measures in Soviet Strategy, co-authored with Roy Godson

    Books edited

  • Security Studies for the Twenty-First Century, co-editor and author with Roy Godson and George Quester.
  • The Role of Naval in 21st Century Operations, co-editor and author with Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
  • Security Studies for the 1990s, co-editor and author with Roy Godson and Ted Greenwood
  • Ethnic Conflict and Regional Instability: Implications for US Policy and Army Roles and Missions, co-editor and author with Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
  • Naval Forward Presence Missions and the National Military Strategy, co-editor and author with Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
  • The Future of Air Power in the Aftermath of the Gulf War, co-editor and author with Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
  • U.S. Defense Policy in an Era of Constrained Resources, co-editor and author with Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr.
  • Guerrilla Warfare and Counterinsurgency: U.S.-Soviet Policy in the Third World, co-editor with Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., Uri Ra'anan, and William Olson
  • Hydra of Carnage: The International Linkages of Terrorism, co-editor and author with Uri Ra’anan, Robert L. Pfaltzgraff, Jr., Ernst Halperin, and Igor Lukes
  • Special Operations in US Strategy, co-editor with Frank R. Barnett and B. Hugh Tovar
  • Power, Principles and Interests: A Reader in World Politics, co-editor and author with James P. O’Leary and Jeffrey Salmon
  • Lessons from an Unconventional War: Reassessing U.S. Strategies in Preparing for Future Conflicts, co-editor and author with Richard Hunt
  • Responding to the Terrorist Threat: Security and Crisis Management, co-editor with Stephen Sloan

    Monographs

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  • ', Special Report, co-authored with Roy Godson, Querine Hanlon, and Samantha Ravich
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  • Armed Groups and Irregular Warfare: Adapting Professional Military Education, co-authored with Roy Godson and Querine Hanlon
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  • , co-authored with Itamara V. Lochard and Doug Farah .
  • Ethnic and Religious Conflict: Emerging Threat to US Security, co-authored with William Olson
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