Linton Wells II

Dr. Linton Wells II is a Distinguished Research Professor and serves as the Force Transformation Chair at the National Defense University (NDU) in Washington. Prior to coming to NDU he spent sixteen years in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense, including service as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration and DoD Chief Information Officer.  He was a member of the US delegation to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003 and 2005.

Before joining the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a civilian, Dr. Wells served for twenty-six years as a surface line officer in the U.S. Navy.  Recently he has been focusing on STAR-TIDES, an information sharing research project in support of populations in stressed environments (www.star-tides.net).

Dr. Wells was born in Luanda, Angola, in 1946. He was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1967 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and oceanography. He attended graduate school at The Johns Hopkins University, receiving a Master of Science in Engineering degree in mathematical sciences and a PhD in international relations. He is also a 1983 graduate of the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo, the first U.S. naval officer to attend there.

Dr. Wells has written widely on security studies in English and Japanese journals. He co-authored Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War, which was published in 1997. His hobbies include history, the relationship between policy and technology, scuba diving, and flying.   He has three times been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Dr. Wells serves on the Advisory Board of the ICT4Peace Foundation strictly in his personal capacity.