Brian Nelson

LIEUTENANT COLONEL, U. S. Air Force

MILITARY PROFESSOR

Area of Expertise - Crisis Management, Governance, and Security Sector Reform

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Nelson joined the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in January 2008 after serving at Headquarters United States Pacific Air Forces. 

He began his Air Force career as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in 1985 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago.  His military education includes Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and Air War College.   He also has a Master’s of Science degree from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.   

After completing undergraduate navigator training as a distinguished graduate, he flew the F-4 Phantom II in the Asia-Pacific while stationed at Clark Air Base, Philippines.  He later attended undergraduate pilot training.  During assignments at Pope Air Force Base, North Carolina, and Ramstein Air Base, Germany, he flew the C-130 Hercules in Africa, Asia, Europe, and North & South America.  His travels have taken him to over 60 countries.   

He accomplished staff assignments with United States Air Forces Europe Air Operations Center and United States European Command, as well as United States Air Forces Central Command where he served as a branch chief leading a team that developed security cooperation activities in the Middle East, Horn of Africa, and South/Central Asia. 

Lieutenant Colonel Nelson has participated in humanitarian assistance/disaster response missions both “in the cockpit” and as a staff officer in Africa, Asia, and Europe, including flying humanitarian missions in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, flying flood-relief missions in Mozambique, and as part of a task force providing humanitarian assistance to Afghanistan. 

He is a graduate of the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies’ Comprehensive Crisis Management Course 08-1 and Asia-Pacific Orientation Course 07-2, as well as completing courses with the Joint Special Operations University, the United States Agency for International Development, and the United States Institute of Peace.   

Lieutenant Colonel Nelson’s current focus is Comprehensive Crisis Management in the Asia-Pacific region.

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