Dr. Gary J. Sampson is a writer and scholar who explores leadership, citizenship, and military service. A lifelong reader who delivered newspapers as a kid in Nebraska, he now lives in Virginia and writes to clarify complicated questions.

Gary is a Senior Research Fellow in Chinese Strategic Studies at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies and a 2026 Research Fellow with the Modern War Institute at West Point. He hosts Marine Pulse, a War on the Rocks podcast, and publishes Temple of Liberty. His current research examines deterrence, alliances, and the recovery of strategic initiative in the Indo-Pacific.

Before turning fully toward writing, he spent more than 25 years on active duty as a U.S. Marine Corps intelligence and international affairs officer, retiring as a lieutenant colonel. His deployments included Operations Southern Watch, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom–Philippines.

He earned a PhD in international relations from Tufts University’s Fletcher School and was an Olmsted Foundation Scholar in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. His work has appeared in Studies in Intelligence, Military Review, the International Journal of Korean Studies, and at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He occasionally writes guest columns for his hometown newspaper, the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star (you can find those here).

Gary is the founder and editor of Temple of Liberty (Substack) and is developing book projects on American grand strategy, PRC–DPRK nuclear dynamics, and leadership lessons from a career at home and abroad.