
Whitney Grespin
Independent expert (website)
twitter: @whitneygrespin
email: whitney [at] sloanmanor [dot] com
Independent expert (website)
twitter: @whitneygrespin
email: whitney [at] sloanmanor [dot] com
security assistance | defense industry
Whitney Grespin's work focuses on U.S. government use of contractors to train partner militaries and has included five years of PhD work at King's College London's Defence Studies Department (defense in June 2021) and ten years of practitioner experience in the contingency contracting industry. She is the Lead Researcher for a regional strategy coordination effort in the Horn of Africa under Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)'s Security Sector Program, and previously worked as a Capacity Building Advisor for the UN Mine Action Service in Mogadishu and was a contracted advisor to the Somali Ministry of Defense. Grespin is also an adjunct graduate instructor at American University's School of Public Affairs, and previously taught at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs (where she held a Visiting Scholar position with the Institute for African Studies for the 2020-21 academic year) and the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College.
Overviews of her writing and academic work can be found here.
Whitney Grespin's work focuses on U.S. government use of contractors to train partner militaries and has included five years of PhD work at King's College London's Defence Studies Department (defense in June 2021) and ten years of practitioner experience in the contingency contracting industry. She is the Lead Researcher for a regional strategy coordination effort in the Horn of Africa under Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD)'s Security Sector Program, and previously worked as a Capacity Building Advisor for the UN Mine Action Service in Mogadishu and was a contracted advisor to the Somali Ministry of Defense. Grespin is also an adjunct graduate instructor at American University's School of Public Affairs, and previously taught at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs (where she held a Visiting Scholar position with the Institute for African Studies for the 2020-21 academic year) and the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College.
Overviews of her writing and academic work can be found here.
Recent Publications:
- "The Problem is the Contract, Not the Contractor," Inkstick, January 28, 2022.
- Review of "The frontlines of peace: an insider's guide to changing the world," International Affairs, Volume 98, Issue 1, January 2022.
- "How the United States military can improve its use of contingency contractors," Medium, August 12, 2021.