Frank O’Donnell is a Nonresident Fellow with Stimson’s South Asia Program. His areas of expertise include nuclear doctrine and posture development, conventional military modernization, and national security policymaking processes in Southern Asia. He was previously a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Fletcher School and a Postdoctoral Fellow in the National Security Affairs Department at the US Naval War College. He has been a Stanton Junior Faculty Fellow and Associate at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University, an Assistant Professor (UK: Lecturer) at the Britannia Royal Naval College, and has further held research positions at the University of Aberdeen and James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.
Frank’s work includes a co-authored book evaluating inadvertent and accidental escalation risks within the China-India-Pakistan trilateral nuclear rivalry (Georgetown University Press, 2018); a U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute book on Indian nuclear force developments and their relevance for U.S. regional strategic interests; and articles on South Asian security topics in Asian Security, Asian Survey, Comparative Strategy, Contemporary Security Policy, Orbis, and Survival journals. His commentary on these issues has also appeared on NPR, The Hindu, the Times of India, and other international media. He is an editorial board member of the US Air Force Journal of Indo–Pacific Affairs.
Frank holds a Ph.D. in Defense Studies from King’s College London, an M.Sc. in Strategic Studies from the University of Aberdeen, and an M.A. in International Relations and Middle East Studies from the University of St. Andrews.
