Dr. Craig Whiteside is an Associate Professor at the Naval War

College Monterey, California where he teaches national security

affairs to military officers as part of their professional military

education.  He is a senior associate with the Center on Irregular

Warfare and Armed Groups at the Naval War College in Newport,

Rhode Island and a fellow at the International Centre for

Counter-terrorism – The Hague. Whiteside’s current research

focuses on the history of the so-called Islamic State movement and

its strategic decision making. He is a graduate of West Point and

has a PhD. in Political Science from Washington State University

and is a former U.S. Army officer with experience in Iraq. His

dissertation was on the political world view of the Islamic State

of Iraq (2003-2013).