Ron Capps

A faculty member of the University of Maryland and staff member at START, Ron Capps is a researcher and scenario designer for the ICONS project. He served in government for 25 years as a soldier in airborne and special operations units as a combat arms, area intelligence, and foreign area officer, and as a Department of State Foreign Service officer (political affairs). Ron is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction. His essays and short stories have appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, Time, The American Interest and other venues. Three of his essays have been listed as notable in Best American Essays (2012, 2014, 2015). Ron was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his service as an intelligence officer in Afghanistan. He was named an “Exceptional Collector of Human Intelligence” by the director of central intelligence, and a “Distinguished Analyst” by the director of national intelligence. The American Foreign Service Association awarded Ron the William R. Rivkin Award, “For intellectual courage and the creative use of dissent in foreign policy.” In 2017, the Johns Hopkins University Foreign Affairs Symposium awarded Ron the Anne Smedinghoff Award for a “life dedicated to service, social justice, and a commitment to others.” His memoir, Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years was published in 2014.