Craig Wonson, Colonel

Craig Wonson, Colonel, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) served with distinction for over 30 years as an infantry officer and operational planner. He commanded at both the O-5 and O-6 levels and led planning and operations for a Marine infantry battalion engaged in major combat operations during Operation Iraqi Freedom. A graduate of both the Marine Corps Command & Staff College and the School of Advanced Warfighting, Colonel Wonson held key planning billets and led large-scale planning efforts at the division, corps, service, and combatant command levels. His operational planning experience included service as a Future Operations Planner with I Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq and as the Future Operations Officer for the 1st Marine Division in Afghanistan. Selected as the first Marine Corps Fellow at Yale University’s Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy, he brought an important practitioner’s perspective to strategic defense studies at one of the world's leading academic institutions.

Following his final command leading a Marine Corps center of excellence for ground combat forces where he delivered advanced training on planning and operations to more than 900 students and 40 units, Colonel Wonson served as a military professor at the U.S. Naval War College for eight years. He taught in both the Strategy & Policy Department and at the Maritime Advanced Warfighting School, helping over 200 graduate-level students apply strategic theory to real-world security challenges and develop expertise in strategy alignment, campaign design, operational planning, and risk mitigation. Colonel Wonson concurrently served as the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Senior Service Advisor to the President of the U.S. Naval War College from 2021-2024, during which time he also provided direct support to planning efforts led by the Center for Maritime Operational Warfare and the Advanced Strategist Program. He received the College's Military Faculty Award for Excellence in Service in 2024.