Professor James Kiras

Professor James D. Kiras is the Dean of Academics at the School of Advanced Air & Space Studies (SAASS), the US Air Force’s premier school of strategy. 

Dr. Kiras transformed and continues to evolve the School’s core course offering on irregular warfare for more than two decades. He is a co-editor of INTER POPULUM: The Journal of Special Operations and Irregular Warfare. 

Dr. Kiras writes and lectures extensively on various aspects of irregular warfare, including special operations, counterterrorism, and counterinsurgency, and actively consults with special operations headquarters and units. His most recent works are Special Operations Success: Balancing Capabilities and Control (2025), The Future Faces of Irregular Warfare (2024), Into the Void: Special Operations Forces After the War on Terrorism (2024), Strategic Sabotage (2021), Special Operations: Out of the Shadows (2020), and Special Operations and Strategy (2006). 

Dr. Kiras holds a Bachelor’s degree in History from the University of Massachusetts at Boston, a Master’s degree in History/International Relations from the University of Toronto, and a PhD from the University of Reading (UK).