Ian Rice is a retired United States Army officer. He has primarily served with or in support of special operations forces during his career. He has been stationed overseas in Germany, Okinawa, and Korea as well he has deployed for 45 months between Iraq and Afghanistan. Most recently, he led the United States Mission to Iraq’s Sunni trial engagement effort in Iraq during Operation Inherent Resolve in 2016-2017. From 2013 through 2018, he served as an active-duty faculty member in the Defense Analysis Department. He is a 2003 graduate of Defense Analysis and he is a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of California Los Angeles.

Ian has taught sections of “Conflict in the Information Age,” “Psychological Operations and Deception,” “The History of Special Operations,” and “Military Organization and Technological Change.” He is also interested in developing courses on conflict-based state-building and the dynamics of combined operations namely security force assistance and military advising.

Ian's most notable publication with Craig Whiteside, “Black Ops: Islamic State and Innovation in Irregular Warfare” is being developed into a book regarding the concepts and capabilities of special operations conducted by non-state actors.