Colonel (Ret.) David B. Des Roches

David B. Des Roches is an Associate Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA) at the National Defense University, where he specializes in the security of the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, defense cooperation, weapons transfers, missile defense, and counterterrorism. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Gulf International Forum and a fellow at the Arab Gulf States Institute and the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations.

Before joining NESA in 2011, he held a series of senior positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy, including Director for the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula, responsible for U.S. defense policy toward Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen as well as DoD Liaison to the Department of Homeland Security, Senior Country Director for Pakistan, NATO Operations Director, Deputy Director for Peacekeeping, and spokesman for the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

Des Roches began his government career in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy as a Special Assistant for Strategy and International Law Enforcement Analyst. He retired as a Colonel after a 30-year career in the active and reserve U.S. Army. An Airborne Ranger, he commanded conventional and special operations parachute units and served on the Joint Staff and the U.S. Special Operations Command staff, with deployments across the Middle East, Europe, and Afghanistan, where he was awarded the Bronze Star.

He is the editor of The Arms Trade, Military Services and the Security Market in the Gulf (2016) and the author of numerous articles on Gulf security. A British Marshall Scholar, he holds a Bachelor of Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and advanced degrees from the School of Oriental and African Studies and King's College London, and from the U.S. Army War College.