Fletcher Eurasia Club Lunch Seminar: Abigail Linnington and the Military Fellows on U.S. Grand Strategy in Eurasia

Abigail Linnington

The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University

Professor of Practice in the International Security Studies Program

Abigail Linnington is a Professor of Practice in the International Security Studies Program at the Fletcher School, Tufts University. She teaches courses on national security decision making, strategy and grand strategy, civil resistance, and security sector reform. In 2022, she received the James L. Paddock Teaching Award from Fletcher students. She previously taught at National Defense University where she was a senior fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies and visiting faculty at two of the war colleges, the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy and the College of International Security Affairs. Retiring at the rank of Colonel, Linnington served for 25 years in the U.S. Army as a military strategist and aviator. From 2016 to 2018, she was a special assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and director of the Chairman’s Action Group. In that position, she supported the chairman in his role as senior military advisor to the president, secretary of defense, the National Security Council, and Congress. She also worked in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy for two years as an advisor on war plans related to European security and U.S. special operations. From 2012 to 2014, she led the analysis and speechwriting team for the U.S. Army Chief of Staff. In 2008 and 2009, she participated in several interagency policy reviews related to the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan. She assisted with the creation of an interagency task force for U.S. rule of law initiatives and deployed to Afghanistan as an advisor to the Commander, Combined Joint Interagency Task Force - 435 (Rule of Law) from 2010 to 2011. As a pilot qualified in the UH-60 (Blackhawk) and OH-58 (Kiowa) helicopters, she commanded units in the XVIII Airborne Corps and the 3rd Infantry Division (Savannah, Georgia), and Eighth U.S. Army (Republic of Korea). She earned her bachelor’s degree in international relations from West Point - where she also taught international relations from 2004 to 2007 - and her master’s and Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She has received the Defense Superior Service Medal (two awards), the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, and the 2017 Tufts Alumni Distinguished Achievement Award, among other honors.

Joshua Boone

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Joshua Boone is an Army Adjutant General Corps officer serving as an Army War College Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Prior to his arrival to Tufts, LTC Boone was the Army Element Commander at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command at Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, where he was responsible for the manning, training, readiness, discipline and welfare of Soldiers assigned to Indo-Pacific Command Headquarters and at U.S. embassies in 16 countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region. From 2020-2021, LTC Boone was the Personnel Actions Branch Chief at the Army Human Resources Command, Ft. Knox, KY, where he led a branch of 48 Civilians and Soldiers responsible for retention, retirement points accounting, separations and eliminations, and other personnel actions. From 2019-2020, LTC Boone was the Army Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development in Washington, DC, managing a $830 million U.S. foreign assistance portfolio for Central Asia. From 2016-2019 LTC Boone was Chief, Military Personnel Division, U.S. Southern Command in Miami, FL, where he led a team of 20 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Civilians responsible for manning and support of service members assigned to the Headquarters, Joint Task Force-Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras, and U.S. embassies in 19 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. LTC Boone’s earlier assignments include Officer Career Manager at Army Reserve Careers Division, Atlanta, GA; Operations Officer at 75th Training Command in Houston, TX; Brigade S-1 (Human Resources Director) for the 2nd Psychological Operations Group in Cleveland, Ohio; Operations Officer at the Office of the Chief, Army Reserve in Washington DC; G-1 Plans and Operations, Protocol Officer, Deputy Secretary of the General Staff, and Aide de Camp with Southern European Task Force (SETAF) in Vicenza, Italy; and Commander of the 663d Movement Control Team in Longare, Italy. Prior to commissioning, then-Staff Sergeant Boone spent six years as an Infantryman in the 1/508th Airborne Battalion Combat Team and SETAF in Vicenza, Italy. LTC Boone’s has served on overseas operations in Italy, Germany, Bosnia, Romania, Russia, Georgia, Korea, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. LTC Boone’s military education includes the Defense Strategy Course, Joint Combined Warfighting School and Army Command and General Staff Officer Course. He holds special skill identifiers as a Joint Planner, Strategic Studies Graduate, and Force Management Officer. LTC Boone’s awards include the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Kosovo Campaign Medal, Korean Defense Service Medal, the Expert Infrantryman Badge, and the Belgian Parachutist Badge. LTC Boone is a native of Richmond, California. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from Webster University and has basic fluency in Italian and Spanish.

Michael Middents

Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant Colonel Michael G. Middents is an Air Force Fellow studying diplomacy at Tufts University’s Fletcher School in Medford, MA. His previous assignment was Commander, 23d Bomb Squadron, Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota where he was responsible for the combat readiness of B-52H aircrews and for leading them in execution of conventional and nuclear Combatant Commander taskings. Lieutenant Colonel Middents received his commission in 2004 from the Reserve Officer Training Corps at Arizona State University and completed Joint Specialized Undergraduate Navigator Training at Randolph Air Force Base, TX in 2005. He has flown numerous combat and Bomber Task Force missions in the B-52H. He has served as a Bomb Wing Director of Staff, Installation Inspector General and as Executive Officer to the Director, Directorate of Plans, Policy, Partnering and Capabilities, United States European Command, Stuttgart, Germany. Lieutenant Colonel Middents is a graduate of the Baltic Defense College’s Command and General Staff College, Tartu, Estonia and is a qualified Political Affairs Strategist. The Lieutenant Colonel is a Master Combat Systems Officer, Evaluator Electronic Warfare Officer and Weapons Officer. He has flown more than 2,300 hours in the B-52H including 255 combat hours performing armed overwatch during the 2021 Operations RESOLUTE SUPPORT and FREEDOM’S SENTINEL withdrawal of Coalition forces from Afghanistan and the largest aerial non-combatant evacuation operation in history.

Brent Peterson

Commander

Commander Brent Peterson is a career naval helicopter pilot with assignments to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron SEVEN (HS-7), Helicopter, Helicopter Sea Combat Weapons School Pacific (HSCWSP), and Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron TWENTY-ONE (HSC-21). He was deployed to Afghanistan 2009-2010 with Provincial Reconstruction Team Khost. As an operational planner, he conducted staff tours at Commander, Naval Forces Europe-Africa – Commander, SIXTH Fleet (CNE- CNA-C6F) in Naples, Italy and Commander, SEVENTH Fleet (COMSEVENTHFLT) in Yokosuka, Japan. He received his commission from the United States Naval Academy in 2003 and earned a Master’s degree from the United States Naval War College in 2017. He is currently assigned as the U.S. Navy Federal Executive Fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts. His personal decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (2 awards), and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal.