Stephen M. Duncan

Stephen M. Duncan served as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the administrations of two Presidents and as the Pentagon's senior Drug War official. He is a decorated Vietnam veteran with more than 40 years of Active and Reserve naval service and the recipient of two awards of the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. He has been a senior executive in two defense industry advanced technology companies, a federal criminal prosecutor, a partner in major law firms, the Director of the Institute for Homeland Security Studies at the National Defense University, and a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies. Duncan has taught graduate courses in National Security Leadership at Johns Hopkins University and has lectured on other national security matters at a wide range of domestic and international military and academic institutions. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He was awarded a Master of Arts Degree in Government by Dartmouth College, and a Juris Doctor Degree by the University of Colorado. He is the author of ten books and many articles on the law and national security related matters. His book "ONLY THE MOST ABLE: Moving Beyond Politics in the Selection of National Security Leaders" was published in 2013. His book "MASTER CRAFTSMEN: Friends, Colleagues & Other Contemporaries Who Have Made a Difference," was published in 2016 and republished in Paperback and Kindle ebook editions in 2019. His book "FIRST DUTY: Presidents, the Nation's Security and Self-Centered Politics," was published in Hardcover, paperback and Kindle ebook editions in 2019. His book, "THE SANCTUARY," was published in 2020. His most recent book DANGEROUS NEW THREATS TO AMERICA'S SECURITY: Failed Political Leadership and the Race to Deter or Win the "Big One" was published in Hardcover and Paperback editions in 2023.