Rachel Metz

Rachel Metz is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at The George Washington University. Metz’s research and teaching focus on international security, security cooperation, military effectiveness, nuclear strategy, the organizational and bureaucratic drivers of defense policy, and methods for studying war. Her current book project, The Cult of the Persuasive: The Bureaucratic Drivers of the United States' Struggle to Build Better Militaries in Partner States, examines U.S. Army and U.S. Army Special Forces efforts to build more effective security forces in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Her work has been published in International Security, International Studies Quarterly, Security Studies, Journal of Strategic Studies, Foreign Affairs, H-Diplo, War on the Rocks, Lawfare, The National Interest, and The Washington Post, among other outlets.

Metz received her Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was a member of the Security Studies Program. Her work has received funding from the Smith Richardson Foundation and the Carnegie Corporation. Previously, Metz was a professor at the U.S. Naval War College and a predoctoral fellow at the Institute for Security and Conflict Studies at the Elliott School of International Affairs.