Justin Boston

Justin Boston is an Associate Professor of War Studies at the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Prior to this, he served 27 years as an Officer in the Royal Navy, completing a variety of shore and frontline assignments. Uniquely for a Naval Officer, he has spent almost his entire operational life in Iraq and Afghanistan, his last tour being as Resolute Support’s Chief J9 Civil – Military Cooperation with the then Government of Afghanistan in 2020. Prior to that, he served as; the J9 in Southern Iraq; naval lead for the U.S. Iraqi Training and Advisory Mission; Joint Planner at Naval Command Headquarters (On several occasions), dealing with counter-piracy, expeditionary and maritime strategy; Faculty at the Defence Academy of the U.K. and Maritime Warfare Centre; and was the Navy’s senior uniformed academic responsible for the Services Professional Military Education (PME). He was also, for some 20 years, the R.N. subject matter expert on and advocate for better command and staff education. Finally, he is an avid military historian, who ran Navy Battlefield Tours and Staff Rides on the campaigns of the English Civil War, Normandy, and Western Front.