Richard Downie

Richard Downie, Ph.D., is the director of the Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies (CHDS) at the National Defense University in Washington, DC. He is regarded as an expert in Latin American security affairs and is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Background
Downie was born in Hempstead, New York but grew up in Southern California (Riverside). He attended high school at the Webb Schools in Claremont, CA.

Education
Dr. Downie graduated from the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1976. He earned his Masters of Arts Degree and Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Southern California. His research focused on organizational learning and counterinsurgency; his dissertation examined how militaries learn—or fail to learn—how to discard outmoded doctrine and enhance performance. This work would later be published under the title Learning From Conflict, The U.S. Military in Vietnam, El Salvador, and the Drug War. Dr. Downie's Institutional Learning Cycle has been referenced in numerous publications including Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife.

Military and government Service
During his service in the US Army, Downie held a series of both staff and command positions. He served as an Infantryman and later as a Latin American Foreign Area Officer. In 1985 Downie served as an exchange officer in Colombia, where he completed the Lancero (International Ranger) School as the distinguished graduate. Downie worked at the U.S. Army South and the United States Southern Command in Panama; coordinated Western Hemisphere affairs on the U.S. Joint Staff; served with the Multinational Specialized Unit in Bosnia; and was the Defense and Army Attaché in Mexico.

On January 17, 2001, the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) opened its doors in Fort Benning, Georgia. Downie was the school's first Commandant in his final US Army command position. In 2004, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, appointed Downie as the Director of the Center For Hemispheric Defense, which "conducts educational activities for civilians and the military in the Western Hemisphere to foster trust, mutual understanding, regional cooperation and partner capacity."

Downie's military education includes the U.S. Army War College, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff Course and the Defense Strategy Course. He was also an Army Fellow in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Seminar XXI Program. Downie is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

Downie holds a 1st degree Black Belt in the martial art of Hwa Rang Do.

Awards
His numerous awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service and Army Commendation Medals, the Army Achievement Medal, the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, the Inter-American Defense Board Medal. He also has been decorated with a number of foreign awards, including the "Orden del Gran Caballero" (Colombia) “Orden de Mérito Académico” (Colombia), the Bosnia/Former Yugoslavia NATO Medal, the Order of Military Merit (Mexico), as well as the Order of the Peruvian Cross (Peru).

Books

 * Learning from Conflict: U.S.Military in Vietnam, El Salvador and the Drug War (1998)/ ISBN 0275960102/ ISBN 978-0-275-96010-0

Articles

 * "Presionando Los Límites de la Cooperación en Seguridad y Defensa" in Agendas Comunes y Diferencias en la Seguridad de América del Norte published by CUCSH (Mexico, 2012)
 * "Critical Strategic Decisions in Mexico: the Future of US/Mexican Defense Relations" CHDS Occasional Paper July 2011 Volume 1 Number 1
 * “Dilemmas de Seguridad en America Latina: El Impacto de la “Strategic Shadow” de los E.E.U.U en Retrocesso,” [Translation: Security Dilemmas in Latin America: The Impact of the Receding U.S. Strategic Shadow] in Comando en Accion, Volume 17, Issue #44, (Jan-Mar 2010).
 * “Prologue,” in La Justicia Militar: Entre la Reforma y la Permanencia, edited by Juan Rial, Red de Seguridad y Defensa de America Latina, Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2010.
 * “Civil-Military Integration vs. Civil Control: The Changing Context of Security and Effective Governance,” in Armed Forces and Society: New Challenges and Environments, Center for Military Studies and Research, Santiago, Chile, 2009.
 * “US Perspective on Hemispheric Security Cooperation: Possibilities and Limitations,” in La Administración de la Defensa en América Latina: Estudios Comparativos, edited by Isidro Sepulveda and Sonia Alda, Instituto Universitario Gutiérrez Mellado, Madrid, Spain, 2008.
 * “Prospects for Future US-Bolivian Relations,” Regional Insights, Issue #1 (Aug 2007).
 * "Foreword", in Capacity Building for Peacekeeping: The Case of Haiti, edited by John T. Fishel and Andres Saenz, National Defense University Press, Washington D.C., 2007.
 * "Defining Integrated Operations," Joint Force Quarterly (Issue No. 38, July, 2005, pp. 10–13)
 * “Taking Responsibility for Our Actions? Establishing Order and Stability in Panama,” Military Review (Vol. LXXII, Apr, 1992, pp. 66–77) with John Fishel;
 * “Low Intensity Conflict Doctrine and Policy: Old Wine in a New Bottle?” Studies in Conflict and Terrorism (Vol. 15, No. 1, Jan-Mar, 1992, pp. 53–67)