Faculty
Director of The Krulak Center: Lieutenant Colonel Jim Pineiro, USMC
LtCol Pineiro has served in the Marine Corps for 26 years, enlisted and officer, holding a wide range of billets in aviation and ground combat element fields. As a combat engineer officer, he deployed to Afghanistan with 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, where he worked as advisor team lead for Afghan security forces and platoon commander for 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. He served as the Branch Head, Ground Combat Element Branch, Science and Technology Division, Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL), where he led a diverse and dynamic team to experiment and prove the viability of artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) for target acquisition and engagement. During his time at MAGTF Staff Training Program, he served in a variety of roles including Space Operations Planner, wargame facilitator, and subject matter expert for service and joint task force training. He has been featured on CBS 60 Minutes: The Coming Swarm and worked with Defense Innovation Unit for autonomous aerial technologies. LtCol Pineiro is a graduate of Expeditionary Warfare School, Marine Corps Command and Staff College and holds a B.S. in Business Management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, a M.S. in Business Management from the American University, and Master of Military Studies from Marine Corps Command and Staff College.
Director of Middle East Studies: Dr. Amin Tarzi
Dr. Tarzi’s areas of interest include the Middle East and South/Central Asia—including the impact of regional policies in these regions on U.S. national security and interests, history and historical narratives, state-building and borderization, and counter- and nonproliferation of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems. He earned his Ph.D. and MA degrees from the Department of Middle East Studies at New York University, and earned his BA in philosophy and political science from Queens College in New York City.
Research Assistant Professor at Middle East Studies: Dr. Christopher Anzalone
Dr. Anzalone studied at George Mason University, completing a B.A. double major in History and Religious Studies. He did graduate work at Indiana University, Bloomington, completing an M.A. in Near Eastern studies, and earned his doctorate through McGill University in Islamic Studies with a primary geographical focus on the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa (particularly East Africa), and additional research on South Asia. His main research focuses broadly on contemporary Islam and Muslim societies with a particular interest on Islamic political thought and different Muslim social and political movements. Dr. Anzalone has special interest in radical and militant Islamist movements and organizations, both Sunni and Shi'ite, and issues of sectarianism in Islam.
Director of Wargaming, Mr. Tim Barrick
Mr. Barrick served in the Marine Corps for 29 years, retiring as a colonel in spring 2021. He served in a wide range of billets including command of 1st Tank Battalion and the Marine Corps Tactics & Operations Group. He also served in key planning positions on the staffs of Marine Forces Japan, Marine Forces Europe & Africa, and deployed on three combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He served as a brigade advisor team lead working with Afghan security forces in 2011-12. In his last tour on active duty, he was the Wargaming Director for the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab, focused on analyzing future warfighting and the Marine Corps’ force design. He is also the lead designer for the Operational Wargame System and its Assassin’s Mace and Zapad game modules, which examine great power conflict at the tactical and operational levels of war. He is also a leading innovator for commercial wargaming tools in professional military education. He is a distinguished graduate of the Marine Corps War College and the Naval War College, and an honor graduate of the Amphibious Warfare School. He also served as the Director of Leaders & Ethics at the Marine Corps War College. In addition to his masters degrees from these PME schools, he also earned a master’s degree in Military Studies in Land Warfare from American Military University and is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy with a degree in Political Science.
Special Operations Chair, Lieutenant Colonel Jason Palermo, USA
LTC Palermo is a Special Forces officer with over 24 years of service, including 19 in Special Operations. Commissioned as an Infantry Officer, he served with the 82d Airborne Division as a platoon leader during the invasion of Iraq before being selected for Special Forces. He has served as a Detachment Commander, Assistant Operations Officer, Company and Task Force Commander, Operations Officer and GWOT Planner, all with 1st SFG(A). He later served as the Chief of Exercises and Deputy of Training Division (G37) for 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), and as the Deputy Director for the Special Warfare Center Commanding General’s Commanders Initiative Group. His most recent assignment was as an Assistant Professor at the Army Command and General Staff College. He has a BA in Criminal Justice from SUNY Brockport and a MA in International Studies with a focus in Interagency Operations from the University of Kansas. He is currently a MBA student through Websters University.
Operations Officer, Major Nate "Kiwi" Jaenichen, USMC
Maj Jaenichen came to the Krulak Center from the MAGTF Staff Training Program, where he was the Aviation and Wargaming SME. He started his career as a CH-46E pilot stationed in Okinawa with HMM-265 doing multiple 31st MEU deployments and graduated from the Weapons and Tactics Instructor Course. He then transitioned to the UH-1Y and served with HMLA-469, HMLA-169 (where he deployed with VMM-161(REIN) on the 15th MEU), and was a part of the reestablishment of HMLA-775. Within the squadron, Maj Jaenichen shared his time between Operations and Maintenance. Prior to MSTP he was a student at the Army’s Command and General Staff College. He has a BS in History from the Naval Academy and a MS in Data Analytics from the University of Maryland.
Modeling and Simulations Officer, Wargaming Directorate, Captain Timothy "Nate" Tidwell, USMC
Capt Tidwell began his Marine Corps career serving as a platoon commander at 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion. After his second deployment to the Pacific, Capt Tidwell received orders to Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) to pursue an MS in Modeling, Virtual Environments and Simulations. Capt Tidwell's research at NPS focused on artifical intelligence for wargaming, specifically leveraging reinforcement learning and multi-model approaches to develop combat simulation agents. In addition to his MS, Capt Tidwell holds a BS in Systems Engineering from the United States Naval Academy.
China SME, Mr. Dan Rice
Mr. Rice is a Non-Resident Senior Fellow with the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. He is also the Chief Operation Officer of the opensource geopolitical intelligence company Foreign Brief. Daniel is a graduate of the John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, the Hopkins-Nanjing Center and spent several years working and studying in China. He has spoken about China at various US military and international news organizations and is a regular guest on the Mitchell Institute’s Aerospace Advantage podcast. He is a fluent Mandarin speaker and speaks Spanish and Arabic. Daniel has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the George Washington University, a Graduate Certificate in International Relations from the Hopkins Nanjing Center, and an MA in International Relations from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He has maintained HSK VI proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, was a bronze medalist in the 2013 Jiangsu Chinese Speech competition for the Greater DC area, and was a 2020 Presidential Management Fellowship Finalist.
Women, Peace, and Security SME, Ms. Melissa Mihocko
Ms. Mihocko served for 24 years in the Marine Corps, active and reserve, and retired as a lieutenant colonel in 2016. As a junior officer, she deployed on the USS Peleliu with the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), the first West Coast MEU to integrate women. As a civil affairs officer, she deployed to Bosnia-Herzegovina, where she worked as a civil-military liaison for Canadian, British, and Malaysian NATO forces during Operation Joint Guard, and to Kosovo in support of 26 MEU during Operation Joint Guardian. In 2003, Melissa deployed as a field historian to Iraq, where she supported I Marine Expeditionary Force during Operation Iraqi Freedom – 1. Upon returning, she mobilized for a year to research and write the historical monograph, U.S. Marines: Combat Service Support During Operation Iraqi Freedom I (published in 2011), for Marine Corps History Division. She continued research and writing for History Division and submitted the manuscript, U.S. Marines: The Changing Roles of Women During the Global War on Terrorism, which is currently in editing. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spent several years working as a management consultant for Accenture Consulting in Washington, D.C.
Energy SME, Mr. Joseph "Buzz" Easterling
Mr. Easterling served in the enlisted and officer ranks of the Marine Corps for 22 years and retired as a Major in 2019. He served as a Combat Engineer Officer and Civil Affairs Officer with combat deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan as well as service in Sub-Saharan Africa and INDOPACOM. He also held a variety of support billets including as a capability developer at MCCDC, acquisitions project officer at MARCORSYSCOM, and as a Future Concepts planner at MCWL where he was an early coauthor to the Multi-Domain Battle Concept. Since retirement from active duty, Mr. Easterling has remained future-focused and engaged in capability development for a range of Engineer capabilities. In his capacity as the MCU Expeditionary Energy analyst, Mr. Easterling identifies operational energy considerations as they relate to Expeditionary Advance Base Operations and researches and identifies methods and technologies by which the future force may gain operational advantage through effective and efficient operational energy practices. Mr. Easterling is a graduate of the Expeditionary Warfare School, as well as the Marine Corps Command & Staff College. He holds a BA in Political Science from the University of North Florida, and a MA in History from the University of Tennessee.
Russia SME, Mr. James Harvey
Mr. Harvey is a former US Army Lieutenant Colonel with over 10 years as a FAO focusing on the former Soviet Union. He deployed to Kosovo in 2002 with the Military Intelligence Bn in Wurzburg, Germany and to OIF with 3ID in 2007-08. He spent time at the US Embassies in Kyiv and Moscow as well as other Russia related assignments such as Presidential Translator, Pentagon Joint Staff, and an Analyst at the Russia Strategic Initiative in Stuttgart, Germany. Mr. Harvey has published articles on Eurasian military, geo-political, and culture issues through the Foreign Military Studies Offices in Fort Leavenworth, KS.