P. W. Singer

P. W. Singer
Singer in 2010
Born	Peter Warren Singer 1974 (age 41–42)
Nationality	American
Fields	Political Science, International Relations, Modern Warfare
Institutions	Brookings Institution Harvard University U.S. Department of Defense International Peace Academy
Alma mater	Princeton University (B.A.) Harvard University (Ph.D.)
Known for	Corporate Warriors, Children at War, Wired For War

P. W. Singer (born Peter Warren Singer, 1974) is an American political scientist, an international relations scholar and a preeminent specialist on 21st century warfare. He is currently Strategist for the New America Foundation and a contributing editor for Popular Science.

Career

Prior to his current position, Singer was Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, where he was Director of the Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence.^[1] Prior to that, he was founding Director of the Project on U.S. Policy Towards the Islamic World at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at Brookings. He has also worked for the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, the Balkans Task Force in the U.S. Department of Defense, and the International Peace Academy. Singer received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University and an A.B. from Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs.

At age 29, Singer became the youngest scholar named a Senior Fellow in the 99-year history of the Brookings Institution. He is considered one of the world's leading experts on changes in 21st century warfare and has written for many of the world's major media and journals, including the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Foreign Affairs, Current History, Survival, International Security, Parameters, Weltpolitik, and the World Policy Journal. He has been quoted in every major U.S. newspaper and news magazine and delivered talks at venues ranging from the U.S. Congress and Pentagon to more than 70 universities around the world. Singer has been named to the "Top 100 Global Thinkers" list by Foreign Policy.^[2] Defense News named him one of the 100 most influential people on defense issues ^[3] He also served on the advisory group for Joint Forces Command, helping the U.S. military visualize and plan for the future. In 2015, he was named by Onalytica analysis as one of the ten most influential voices on cybersecurity.^[4]

Singer served as coordinator of the Defense Policy Task Force for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign. In addition to his work on conflict issues, Singer is a member of the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Communications and Information Policy.^[5]

Singer has provided commentary on military affairs for many of the major TV and radio outlet, including ABC News Nightline, Al Jazeera, BBC, CBS-60 Minutes, CNN, Fox, NPR, The Daily Show, and the NBC Today Show. He is also a founder and organizer of the U.S.–Islamic World Forum, a global conference that brings together leaders from across the United States and the Muslim world.^[6][7]

Singer has also worked with a variety of entertainment world projects, with Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, Universal including the movies Traitor, and Whistleblower, the TV series Strike Back and Curiosity, as well as the 24: Redemption movie/DVD, broadcast in 2008. Singer served as consultant on the bestselling game series Call of Duty.^[8] In the entertainment sector, he has received awards/support from the Tribeca Film Institute, Sloan Filmmakers Fund, Film Independent, and FAST Track at the L.A. Film Festival.

Books

Corporate Warriors

His first book Corporate Warriors: The Rise of the Privatized Military Industry (Cornell University Press, 2003, ISBN 0801441145) was the first to explore the new industry of private companies providing military services for hire, an issue that soon became important with the use and abuse of these companies in Iraq.^[9] The book was named best book of the year by the American Political Science Association, among the top five international affairs books of the year by the Gelber Prize,^[10] and a "top ten summer read" by Businessweek. It is now in the assigned texts at venues ranging from Yale Law School to the Army War College.

Children at War

Singer's next book, Children at War (Pantheon, 2005, ISBN 0375423494), explored the rise of another new force in modern warfare, child soldier groups. Singer's "fascinating" (New York Post) and "landmark" (Newsweek) work was the first book to comprehensively explore the compelling and tragic rise of child soldier groups and was recognized by the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Book of the Year Award. His commentary on the issue was featured in a variety of venues ranging from National Public Radio and Fox News to Defense News and People magazine. Singer has served as a consultant on the issue to the U.S. Marine Corps and Congress, and the recommendations in his book resulted in changes in the UN peacekeeping training program. An accompanying A&E/History Channel documentary entitled Child Warriors was broadcast in 2008.

Wired for War

Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century (Penguin, 2009, ISBN 9781594201981) is a best-selling book by P. W. Singer. It explores how science fiction has started to play out on modern day battlefields, with robots used more and more in war. For the book research, Singer interviewed hundreds of robotics scientists, science fiction writers, soldiers, insurgents, politicians, lawyers, journalists, and human rights activists from around the world. Even before publication, the work had already been featured in the video game Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, as well as in presentations to audiences as diverse as the U.S. Army War College, Air Force Institute of Technology and the National Student Leadership Conference. Singer's 2009 book tour included stops on NPR's Fresh Air,^[11] the Daily Show with Jon Stewart,^[12] the opening of the TED conference, the Royal Court of the United Arab Emirates and presentations at 75 venues around the United States. The book was a non-fiction book of the year by the Financial Times and named to the official reading lists for the US Army US Air Force, US Navy, and Royal Australian Navy.

Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know

Cybersecurity and Cyberwar: What Everyone Needs to Know^[13] (Oxford University Press, 2014, ISBN 9780199918096) is a book by P.W Singer and Allan Friedman. The book explores how the Internet and cybersecurity works, why it matters, and what can be done. It was featured on Charlie Rose,^[14] NPR's Fresh Air, CNBC Squawkbox, the SXSW conference, and named to the official reading lists for the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy.

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War^[15][16] (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, June 30, 2015, ISBN 0544142845) is Singer's first novel, co-written with August Cole. The book melds nonfiction style research on emerging trends and technology with a fictional exploration of what war at sea, on land, in the air, space, and cyberspace will be like in the future. Publishers Weekly described it: "Tom Clancy fans will relish Singer and Cole's first novel, a chilling vision of what might happen in a world war."^[17] The release date is June 30, 2015 and Singer has done briefings in the Pentagon in advance of publication.^[18]

See also

• The Brookings Institution
• Military use of children

Notes

External links

• P.W. Singer Author website
• Curriculum vitae
• Brookings Institution
• Children at War book website
• Wired for War book website
• Video (with audio-only available) of conversation with Singer and John Horgan on Bloggingheads.tv
• Interview with Peter Singer on Child Soldiers, Private Soldiers and Robots by Theory Talks
• Interview on Wired for War at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library
• Audio: Peter Singer in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion programme The Forum
• P. W. Singer at TED