James Turner is an Associate Professor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy of the National Defense University Jim was a Foreign Service Officer (FSO) from 1992-2020. As an FSO, he served as Foreign Policy Advisor (POLAD) to the Commander of the Special Operations Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (SOJTF-OIR) in Iraq, Syria and Kuwait; Economic Counselor in Jerusalem and Ankara, Turkey; Energy Team leader in Baghdad, Iraq; Assistance Team Leader for Iraq Affairs in Washington, DC; and Economic / Political Chief in Guangzhou, China. He was posted as an Economic Officer in Taipei, Taiwan, and Amman, Jordan, and as a Consular Officer in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, UAE. Jim also served in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research in Washington, DC as a watchstander. Prior to joining the State Department, Jim worked in the House of Representatives as a legislative assistant handling foreign affairs, trade, and defense and at the Agency for International Development as a contracted development analyst.
Jim was a distinguished graduate from the National Defense University’s Industrial College of the Armed Forces (now the Eisenhower School) in 2010 with an M.S. in National Resource Strategy. Jim also has an M.A. in Political Science and Middle Eastern History, Governments and Politics from the George Washington University, Washington, DC and a B.A. in Jewish Studies from Spertus College of Judaica, Chicago, Illinois. Jim is married and has one daughter.