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  • Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Maxwell AFB, AL

Department of Security Studies

The Department of Security Studies develops leaders with expertise in the operational level of warfare who can evaluate today's complex, interdependent, and dynamic international system; develop and assess military plans at the operational level of warfare, connecting strategic level objectives to operational plans that integrate joint military, multinational, and multi-agency instruments of power. Further, students learn how to effectively communicate operational level priorities to senior leaders, those under their command, and international partners. Our curriculum consists of two courses: Military Theory and National Security. The Department is home to military and civilian subject matter experts in international relations, military and diplomatic history, and area studies.

 

Dr. Kevin C. Holzimmer is Professor of Military History at Air University’s Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) and chair of the Department of Security Studies. Before his current position at ACSC, he was a research professor at the USAF Air Force Research Institute and taught at the School for Advanced Air and Space Studies. Dr. Holzimmer has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on World War II in the Pacific, including General Walter Krueger: Unsung Hero of the Pacific War (University Press of Kansas). He is currently working on a book-length project that examines how the principal air, land, and sea commanders forged an effective joint team that successfully fought the Japanese in Douglas MacArthur’s Southwest Pacific Area. In addition to his academic pursuits, Dr. Holzimmer has worked on policy concerns, first with GEN David H. Petraeus’ USCENTCOM Joint Strategic Assessment Team (9 October 2008- February 2009) and conducting fieldwork in charting a U.S. Air Force strategy based upon President Obama’s famous “pivot to Asia” speech. He holds a PhD in military history from Temple University..
Lt. Col. Brandon Buelow, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Military and Security Studies in the Department of International Security. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from Arizona State University, a Master of Science in Emergency Management from Columbia Southern University, a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from Air University, and a PhD in Public Administration and Public Policy from Auburn University. Lt Col Buelow’s research interests are sub-conventional warfare and coercion. More specifically, his research is focused on sub-conventional warfare and the effects that it has on the likelihood of conventional war. (ACSC).
Lt. Col. Gary Adams serves in the Department of Security Studies at Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). He holds a bachelor’s in mathematics from the Citadel. Moreover, he earned his Master of Arts in International Relations from The University of Oklahoma and a Master of Military Operational Art and Science degree from ACSC. Lt Col Adams received his commission through AFROTC at The Citadel in 2007. He is a senior pilot with 1,400 flying hours in total, primarily as a combat search and rescue (CSAR) helicopter pilot in the HH-60G. He deployed several times to Afghanistan in support of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and FREEDOM’S SENTINEL. In support of the 2011 NATO mission in Libya, as part of Operations ODYSSEY DAWN and UNIFIED PROTECTOR, Lt Col Adams was deployed to various locations around the Mediterranean, including aboard a UK LHD, the “HMS Ocean,” providing CSAR coverage from just off the coast of Libya. Lt Col Adams teaches Military Theory and National Security courses as part of the core curriculum and an elective on International Relations, Great Power Competition, and Strategic Deterrence.
Dr. Miruna Barnoschi specializes in international and national security, transnational threats, great power politics, and security institutions. She previously held visiting and adjunct appointments at Emory University, Tulane University, DePaul University, and Northwestern University, as well as a Fellowship in International Security at the Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals in Spain. Dr. Barnoschi earned her Ph.D. in Political Science from Northwestern University, where her primary field was international relations. She also completed an ad hoc M.S. in Statistics at Northwestern, enhancing her empirical research capabilities. An interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary scholar, she holds a M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Virginia and received dual B.A. degrees summa cum laude in International Relations and in Classics & Philosophy from the University of Southern California. Beyond academia, she has hands-on experience as an Intelligence Analyst in the private security sector. Her recent publication on “Terrorism and the United Nations” may be found in The Routledge Companion to Terrorism Studies: New Perspectives and Topics (2025). She also edited a special issue on “Systemism and International Studies” in Social Sciences that came out in 2025.
Dr. Kristin Bashir is Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies with expertise in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region at ACSC. She holds a PhD in Middle Eastern Studies from the Institute for Middle East Studies at King's College London with teaching experience at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level in the fields of political science, international studies, national security and strategy, and ethnicity and nationalism studies. Dr. Bashir's current research interests and teaching repertoire include DES core courses as well as religious and national identities of MENA region communities with attention to inter-faith relations, cultures, sectarianism, and violent extremist organizations.  
Shawn T. Cochran, PhD, serves as Professor of Strategy and Security Studies at the US Air Force Air Command and Staff College. Prior to joining the ACSC faculty in 2024, Dr. Cochran worked as Senior Political Scientist for the RAND Corporation. The former Commandant of the US Air Force School of Advanced Air and Space Studies and a retired Air Force officer with more than two decades experience as a combat rescue helicopter pilot, Dr. Cochran holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a Master of Public Policy in International Security and Political Economy from Harvard University. He has published in Strategic Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, Armed Forces & Society, and War on the Rocks, and is author of the book War Termination as a Civil-Military Bargain as well as co-author of more than twenty RAND studies. 
Dr. Ron Dains is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies at the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). He served as Acting Chief, Graduate Professional Military Education and Program Enhancement and as Acting Chief, Undergraduate and Continuing Education at Air University Headquarters from February through November 2025. His leadership positions include ACSC Dean of Education Support from 2020-2024, Chair of the Department of International Security from 2014-2020, and National Security Studies Course Director for Academic Years 2012 and 2013. He earned his Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from the University of Alabama and holds an M.S. and B.S. in Aeronautical Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Ron is a retired USAF Aircraft and Munitions Maintenance Officer who also served as a USAF enlisted Aircraft Electro-Environmental Technician and a US Navy Aviation Electrician’s Mate and Helicopter Rescue Crewman/Swimmer. His teaching experiences include the Airman Leadership School; NCO Leadership School and NCO Academy; Military Strategic Studies and PME at the US Air Force Academy; and, Joint Air Operations Planning, Regional and Cultural Studies, National Security Studies, National Security Decision Making, Warfare Studies, Military Theory, US Civil-Military Relations, and The History of Logistics at ACSC. His aircraft maintenance experience includes the UH-1F and N; SH, CH, and HH-3; HH-60; MH-53; C-130; B-1B, and the E-3 Sentry. His munitions maintenance and operational support experience includes the CALCM and conventional munitions supporting B-1B; B-52; B-2, F-15, and F-18 operations. Following retirement from active duty in 2006, he served as a Defense Analyst for the Government Accountability Office, then returned to ACSC as a civilian professor in 2009.
Lt. Col. Giff Hoffman is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Dr. Kenneth Johnson is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies at the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). Before returning to ACSC in June 2024, he had served as a Research Coordinator for Air University since January 2019. During his first tenure at ACSC from 2010-19, he served as the Dept. Department Chair of the Research Department and the Warfare Studies Course Director in the Distance Learning Department. Prior to that, he taught history at the United States Military Academy. His PhD is in military history from Florida State University, specializing in 18th century France, particularly the French Navy. In addition to writing extensively on Napoleon’s use of sea power, Dr. Johnson is also working on various works on classical military theory, including a new translation of Jomini’s Précis de l’Art de la Guerre, and a primer on the Maritime Domain. 
Lt Col Cecelia Kinney is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Dr. Michael Ryan Kraig is an Associate Professor of Security Studies at Air Command and Staff College. He earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University at Buffalo, New York, with a major in international security studies and a minor in comparative politics. He is a lifelong scholar of enduring geopolitical rivalries in the Middle East, South Asia, and Northeast Asia, based on a 2001 Dissertation on “The Causes and Consequences of Nuclear Proliferation in the Developing World”, which led to serial publications for and with senior South Asia scholar Sumit Ganguly in 2003-2005. He has taught military and Airpower theory to AF Majors for 15 years at Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL. Prior, during the Aughts, Dr. Kraig served in several senior capacities with the Stanley Foundation, a non-partisan foundation devoted to cross-national dialogues on policy options for the US and its competitors that would moderate the extremes of their geopolitical disagreements. He managed and implemented “track-2,” informal diplomatic dialogues among a wide range of senior national and global political leaders, think-tank analysts, and academics from global capitals such as Tehran, Riyadh, Damascus, Cairo, Dubai, Muscat (Oman), Berlin, London, Moscow, and Beijing. Prior to joining the foundation, Dr. Kraig interned with what is now known as the Government Accountability Office on nuclear weapons issues in the post-Cold War era and presented findings on South Asian nuclear arsenals at the UN 2000 NPT Review Conference.

Dr. Ann Mezzell is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies in the Department of Security Studies at the Air Command and Staff College. She holds political science degrees from the University of Alabama (MA) and the University of Georgia (PhD), both with concentrations in international relations. She is also a graduate of the Joint and Combined Warfighting School. Dr. Mezzell teaches courses on international security, military theory, and comparative political-military affairs. Her research centers on foreign policy, military strategy, and the messaging effectiveness of disaster response operations. Currently, she is working on projects related to interoperability, integration and interdependence (I3), responsible great power messaging, and the intersection of joint doctrine, force employment, and military effectiveness.
Lt Col John Mahan is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Lt Col Joshua Payne is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Brian R. Price is Course Director for Military Theory, a past Course Director for Joint Campaigning, formerly teaching within the Department for Joint Warfighting (DEW) for five years and the Joint All-Domain Strategist concentration for two years, and he is now an associate professor at ACSC, teaching courses on USAF innovation, military theory, planning, and airpower. With a Ph.D. in history from the University of North Texas and a BA in political science from UCLA, he taught graduate courses previously within the Diplomacy and Military Studies program at Hawai’i Pacific University, conducted research in the POW-MIA Accounting Agency, supported special operations in Afghanistan and served a second tour in Afghanistan supporting American and French COIN efforts in RC-East, where he participated in 132 combat patrols. He has also studied medieval chivalric culture and fighting, has been inducted into the U.S. Martial Arts Hall of Fame as a master instructor of swordsmanship, and has written a number of books on medieval fighting, arms and armour and historical chivalry. In his current field, he studies the nexus between technology, military culture and war. Since coming to ACSC he has published articles on decision advantage, on John Boyd, on domain warfare, and is completing his fifth book, under contract to Naval Institute Press, Eagles, Falcons and Warthogs: “Bill” Creech, John Boyd and the Struggle to Remake the Tactical Air Forces in the Wake of Vietnam. His other books include The Book of the Tournament, Techniques of Medieval Armour Reproduction (2nd ed., 2026), Teaching and Interpreting Historical Swordsmanship (ed.), and The Sword in Two Hands. 
Dr. Matthew R. Schwonek is Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies at Air Command and Staff College (ACSC).  His responsibilities include teaching courses in military theory, international relations, and Eastern European and Russian studies.  He received a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in East Central European and Russian History from the Ohio State University, where he formerly served as assistant Director of the Center for Slavic and East European Studies. He has published numerous book chapters and articles, which examine strategy and military affairs in Poland during the Twentieth Century.
Dr. Brian McNeil is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Dr. Christopher Weimar is an Associate Professor of Military and Security Studies in the Department of Security Studies of the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) and retired USAF Colonel. He served in the Communications, Cyberspace, Logistics, and Strategic Communications areas and completed his military service as the Deputy Director of Logistics and Engineering at North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Political Science from the Graduate School and University Center of the City of New York. His research areas of interest are the outsourcing of national defense, contested logistics, and international security and conflict. He has qualified and run the Boston Marathon 10 times and the Pikes Peak Double (Marathon and Ascent) three times. 
Maj Zachary Schuman is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Maj. Daniel Dawson is an instructor in the Department of Security Studies.
Maj. Barbara Vayda is an Instructor in the Department of Security Studies at the Air Command and Staff College (ACSC). An Intelligence Officer commissioned through the University of Virginia with a Bachelor of Arts in Foreign Affairs, her career encompasses experience at the unit, wing, Numbered Air Force, and Headquarters Air Force levels, including support to Operations INHERENT RESOLVE and FREEDOM’S SENTINEL. Prior to her current assignment, Maj Vayda was an AY25 ACSC student and a Division Chief at 12 AF (AFSOUTH). She is a graduate of Air University (Master of Military Operational Art and Science), the Naval Postgraduate School (MA, Regional Studies - Sub-Saharan Africa), and American Military University (MA, Intelligence Studies).