Ken Allard

A former army colonel, Kenneth Allard is a well-known commentator on international security issues and is featured as a military analyst with MSNBC and NBC News, as well as a regular columnist for MSNBC.com. His military career as an operational intelligence officer also included service on the faculty of the United States Military Academy, as special assistant to the Army Chief of Staff, and as dean of students at the National War College. A command and control expert, he served in 1996 on special assignment with the U.S. 1st Armored Division in Bosnia. Exclusively represented by Leading Authorities, Allard is a popular speaker on military affairs, terrorism, global politics, and military lessons for business.  

Allard also played key roles in two of the most significant reform efforts in Pentagon history: as a congressional fellow, helping to draft the landmark 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, and directing the study that produced the sweeping procurement reforms of the 1994 Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act.  

Business is a Battlefield. Allard is the author of Business as War, Battling for Competitive Advantage. The book discusses 21st-century business strategy for succeeding in a tough global economy. In his book and speeches, Allard draws numerous parallels between the strategies and tactics used by the United States military and the challenges businesses face in the no-holds-barred competition of the global economy. His forthcoming book, Warheads: Cable News And The Fog Of War, reveals what goes on behind the closed doors of that coliseum, from the make-up rooms and TV studios of cable news to the E-ring conference rooms of the Pentagon.  

Talking heads and warheads. Allard's hard-hitting and often hilarious narrative shows how he and his colleagues from MSNBC, CNN, and FOX covered the events of 9/11, the war in Afghanistan, and the invasion of Iraq - usually in "hits" of three minutes or less. In his book, Allard also considers the tough issues that the "Warheads" could seldom wedge into their hits: that technology is never the final answer in warfare and that, from Hurricane Katrina to the war on terror, no robot can substitute for the American soldier.  

A noted author and lecturer, Allard's many publications include two books, Somalia Operations: Lessons Learned, and Command, Control and the Common Defense, which won the 1991 National Security Book Award. Allard holds a Ph.D. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, an M.P.A. from Harvard University, and is an adjunct professor in the National Security Studies Program at Georgetown University.  

Warrior turned cable news military analyst, Colonel Kenneth Allard shoots down the easy, traditional business strategy and looks at business as war. With every presentation he applies military lessons to the boardroom.