William C. Martel


William C. Martel was a scholar who specialized in studying the leadership and policymaking processes in organizations, strategic planning, cyberwarfare and militarisation of space, and technology innovation. He taught at the U.S. Air War College and U.S. Naval War College, and performed research for DARPA and the RAND Corporation. He later become Associate Professor of International Security Studies at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, a position he held until his death in 2015.
Martel served as an adviser to the National Security Council, to the U.S. Air Force, and to Governor Mitt Romney during his 2012 presidential campaign, as co-chair of Romney's Russia Working Group.

Early life and education

Martel was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on July 15, 1955, a son of Dr. Cyprien Martel and Mrs. G. Eunice Martel.
Martel pursued a B.A. from St. Anselm College, graduating in 1977, and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. He later also became a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, from 1991–93.

Career

Martel was the Director and Founder of the U.S. Air Force Center for Strategy and Technology from 1993–99, and Associate Professor of International Relations at the Air War College during the same years. From 1999–2005 he was Professor of National Security Affairs and Chair of Space Technology and Policy Studies at the Naval War College.
He served on the U.S. Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and was a Member of the Editorial Board of the Naval War College Review. He was also the principal investigator on space policy study with research support from MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. in 2005 he joined the faculty of Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, where he continued to teach until his death in 2015.
He also served as an adviser to the National Security Council, and as a foreign policy advisor in Mitt Romney's presidential campaign in 2011–12, as a specialist for Russian affairs.
Martel died of cancer on January 12, 2015, at the age of 59.

Awards

In 2014, Martel was the recipient of the Fletcher School’s James L. Paddock Award for excellence in teaching.

Views

Commenting on the entrepreneurs who were selling protective equipment in the wake of the September 11 attacks, Martel said: "It is just people looking for security, in the face of systemic insecurity."
Speaking in 2006 about targeted killings as opposed to attempting to capture perpetrators, he said: "It's a pretty dicey proposition capturing somebody. You can't do a snatch and grab casually." In terms of domestic law, he said: "It is permissible to attack individuals who are heads of organizations in combat against the United States." Commenting in 2006 on the terrorist National Intelligence Estimates' declassified intelligence assessment on terrorism, Martel found it to be simplistic and not very useful. "I was stunned at how pedestrian it was," Martel said.
In 2008, he hailed Bush's announcement that he would cut the length of new tours in Iraq, saying: "In a war military, you have to cut corners to meet objectives. Progress comes in small doses." The Christian Science Monitor quoted Martel in 2008, saying of al-Qaeda's recruitment of Americans: "It's an immensely adaptive organization", while adding that it could potentially make it more open to penetration by western spies. "It could make it easier for us to understand what they're doing, and why," said Martel.
Speaking of Faisal Shahzad in 2010, he said: "This may suggest we are moving from the 'A' team in recruits to the 'B' team or even the 'C' team."

Works

Books authored

Grand Strategy in Theory and Practice: The Need for an Effective American Foreign Policy.
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Books edited

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Book chapters

Reformulating Grand Strategy in the Indian Ocean Region: The Case for Containment, in Peter Dombrowski and Andrew C. Winner, American Strategy in the Indian Ocean.Deterrence and Alternative Images of Nuclear Possession, in T. V. Paul, Richard J. Harknett, and James J. Wirtz, The Absolute Weapon Revisited: Nuclear Arms and the Emerging International Order Controlling Borders and Nuclear Exports, in Graham Allison, Ashton B. Carter, Steven E. Miller, Philip Zelikow,, Cooperative Denuclearization: From Pledges to Deeds, pp. 198–220.Deterrence After the Cold War., in Stephen J. Cimbala, Sidney R. Waldman, Controlling and Ending Conflict: Issues Before and After the Cold War.Nuclear Strategy: What It Is and Is Not, in Charles Kegley and Eugene Wittkopf, The Nuclear Reader: Strategy, Weapons, and War
  • Why Ukraine Gave Up Nuclear Weapons. in Pulling Back from the Nuclear Brink: Slowing, Stopping, Reversing, and Countering Nuclear Threats.
  • Non-Superpower Nuclear Crisis De-Escalation. in The De-escalation of Nuclear Crises.
  • Nuclear Strategy: What It Is and Is Not. The Nuclear Reader: Strategy, Weapons, and War.
  • Exchange Calculus of Nuclear War. in Strategic War Termination.

Monographs

Global Vigilance, Global reach, Global Power for America. Technology, Systems Architecture, and Policy. in Report on Availability and Survivability of Militarily Relevant Commercial Space Systems
  • ‘‘Rethinking U.S. Proliferation Policy for the Future.’‘ Weapons of Mass Destruction: New Perspectives on Counterproliferation.Improving the USAF Technology Transfer Process. Review of Bases Abroad: The Global Foreign Military Presence. A Preliminary Perspective on Regulatory Activities and Effects in Weapons Acquisition.

Articles

Short essays

  • , The National Interest, June 9, 2014
  • The National Interest, September 9, 2013
  • RealClearDefense, June 27, 2013
  • RealClearDefense, June 12, 2013
  • The Diplomat, March 4, 2013
  • The Diplomat, March 15, 2013
  • The Diplomat, February 25, 2013
  • The Diplomat, September 24, 2012
  • Cognoscenti, WBUR
  • The Diplomat, July 24, 2012
  • The Diplomat, June 29, 2012
  • The Diplomat, June 18, 2012
  • , The Providence Journal, March 18, 2010
  • , The Providence Journal, September 21, 2006

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