Shawn Creamer is a nonresident senior fellow in the GeoStrategy Initiative, Scowcroft Strategy Initiative, and Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He is a retired US Army infantry colonel, with his last posting as the director of operations (G3) for First Army. He is also a fellow with the Institute for Corean-American Studies.

Over a thirty‐year military career, he has commanded at the brigade level and amassed extensive combat, joint, and multinational operational experience. His professional research and writing focus on northeast Asian alliances and decision making, the command and control of joint and multinational forces, and national emergency preparedness—including large-scale mobilization and force expansion.

Creamer was the US Army War College fellow with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Security Studies Program (from 2016 to 2017), where he received the General Matthew B. Ridgway Research Award. Earlier, he graduated from the US Army Command and General Staff College (2008) while simultaneously earning an MA from Webster University. He holds a BA from The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina (1995). His military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal; two Legions of Merit; two Bronze Star Medals; the Defense Meritorious Service Medal; and seven Meritorious Service Medals. His personal decorations further include the Army Staff Identification Badge, the Expert Infantryman Badge, Senior Parachutist, and the Ranger tab.