Senior Researcher
Dr. Itamara V. Lochard is the Senior Researcher of the International Security Studies Program at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. She is also a certified mediator. Her research explores the nexus of irregular war, governance and non-state armed groups including insurgents, militias, terrorists, complex criminal organizations, organized gangs and malicious cyber actors. She created and maintains a dataset of ~1,700 active non-state armed groups and strategic non-violent action groups larger than 1,000 members. She correlates these data with governance and other metrics. For the past eight years, she has tracked this information to detect groups’ organizational patterns, areas of cooperation, strategies and tactics. Her current research also explores the use of Information and Communications Technology by these groups in conflict settings, to include Afghanistan and Pakistan. She is particularly interested in non-traditional conflict resolution mechanisms including insider-partials.
Dr. Lochard has examined the para-state function of informal groups since 1988 most notably at the African Studies Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the Institute of International Studies and the North American Forum at Stanford University and the Jebsen Center for Counter-Terrorism Studies. She presents her findings and their policy implications at the U.S. Secretary of Defense Highlands Forum and regularly briefs U.S. combatant commanders.
Other notable activities include taking part of a ten-member security retreat that drafted a white paper on national security threats for the U.S. President Elect in 2008. She also presented “Winning the War of Ideas: Strategic Listening,” at a strategic communication workshop of the NATO Center Defense Against Terrorism in Ankara, Turkey. Her paper was selected for publication in their refereed journal and she as invited to speak at their annual summit in 2010. In addition, Dr. Lochard presented “Non-State Cyber Threats in BRIC Countries: Brazil” at the Challenges to International Cyber Security conference at the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, at the National Defense University. She was also a panelist on both the human security and cyber security panels of the Global Creative Leadership Summit sponsored by the United Nations and the Louise Blouin Foundation.
Dr. Lochard teaches a course on Armed Groups at the Advanced Irregular Warfare workshop for senior-level, U.S. Special Operations Forces (SOF) and Special Forces (SF) at Special Operations Command (SOCOM) / Joint Special Operations University (JSOU). She has authored several works and has been interviewed on multiple occasions by the BBC and the Christian Science monitor on matters relating to Irregular War. From 2001-2007, she was a contributing editor to the Journal of Public and International Affairs published by jointly by Princeton University and the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs.
At Fletcher, she is also responsible for assisting U.S. military fellows (05/06-level) in developing their fellowship paper, required by their respective services. She has also taught co-taught a graduate seminar on Internal Conflicts and Wars since 2003; taught executive training programs to mid to senior-level career and military officers of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Armenia and the Critical National Information Association of United Arab Emirates; and lectured in Strategic Non-Violent Action seminars. She has sat on several faculty search committees, the Ph.D. committee as well as the reconstruction and renovation committee. She also founded the monthly /Perspectives/ photo-journalism exhibits in 2001, which are now on permanent display in Ginn Library. All proceeds from sales of their photos are donated to the child soldier rehabilitation efforts of the UN Office of Children in Armed Conflict. In 2007, she was awarded the Presidential Award for Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University.
Her academic credentials include a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University and two M.A. degrees from Stanford University in International Policy Studies and Latin American Studies. In addition, she holds an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the Fletcher School.