Lieutenant Colonel Brian Kerg, US Marine Corps, is a nonresident fellow in the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Kerg is an active-duty US Marine Corps operational planner currently assigned as the G-5 director of plans, III Marine Expeditionary Force. In this capacity, he directs the deliberate planning efforts for the employment of Marine Corps forces across the first island chain. He is also currently an editorial board member for the US Naval Institute’s Proceedings magazine. His professional writing focuses on future conflict, naval and littoral operations, information warfare, and useful fiction.

A former enlisted infantryman, he served in a variety of command and staff positions in the operating forces and the supporting establishment. He previously held fellowships with Marine Corps University’s Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfighting, the Pacific Forum, and the College of William and Mary’s Project for International Peace and Security. He was the US Naval Institute Proceedings 2021 Author of the Year and was recognized by Combat Development and Integration, Headquarters Marine Corps as the 2021 Expeditionary Warfare Officer of the Year.

Kerg holds an MS in information from the University of Michigan, an MA in military history from Norwich University, and an MA in operational studies from Marine Corps University’s School of Advanced Warfighting, among other degrees.