Colonel Sean Atkins is an Assistant Professor and the Air Force Chair at the College of Information and Cyberspace. He earned a PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Political Science, specializing in International Relations and Security Studies. His research focuses on national defense in cyberspace and is published in multiple scholarly journals as well as with the Atlantic Council, Royal United Services Institute, and Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center.
Colonel Atkins’ service includes national policy experience, serving as Cyber Policy Advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he co-led development of a presidential policy on cyber operations and managed international cyber partner development. He also established the Headquarters Air Force A2 cyber capabilities branch and led the writing of the first Air Force cyber operations strategy. His operational background is in intelligence and cyber operations and includes numerous deployments leading Air Force, Joint, and Intelligence Community teams in combat operations.