Veteran. Author. Defense and National Security Analyst.
Wes J. Bryant is a retired master sergeant and former special operations joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) in the elite special warfare branch of the US Air Force. He is coauthor of the book Hunting the Caliphate: America’s War on ISIS and the Dawn of the Strike Cell, a first-person account written alongside the former ground force commander of Iraq, Major General Dana J.H. Pittard. In 2014, he was a key member of the special operations response force sent to Baghdad to combat ISIS and led the team that established the first strike cells to take down the caliphate. As a senior targeting professional, additionally certified as an advanced collateral damage estimation analyst, he led three separate strike cells combatting ISIS and other terrorist entities across Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. Wes is now an author and defense and national security analyst with focus on foreign policy, counterterrorism and extremism, strike and joint targeting operations, and civilian harm mitigation.
Wes has provided expert analysis on national security strategy, targeting and strike operations, and civilian harm mitigation and response in appearances on CNN, CBS, BBC, PBS, and others, and regularly provides analysis and subject matter expertise for major media outlets such as Associated Press, Washington Post, New York Times, Fox, Wall Street Journal, and more. He has been a presenter and panelist in forums at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, the U.S. Army War College, and Duke School of Law's Center for Law, Ethics, and National Security. Most recently, Wes has conducted formal analysis of U.S., allied, and adversary standards, practices, and policy related to conduct in warfare, strike operations, and civilian harm mitigation and directly advised U.S. Congress toward national security policy reform.
Wes holds a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of Maryland, a Master of Professional Studies in Publishing through George Washington University, and an MBA with graduate certificate in Management of Technology and Innovation through George Washington University.
You can follow Wes on Facebook, X, and Instagram @wesjbryant and visit his site at wesjbryant.com.
“I’ve been a lifelong philosopher, writer, and artist of many colors. From storytelling, to poetry, to singer-songwriting, to training in the traditional martial arts — I find wisdom and refuge in them all. In my work, I blend perspectives from a life of both extreme adversity and great opportunity. From a troubled upbringing, that pushed me to leave everything behind for the military, later finding myself thick in the global war on terror and struggling with trauma born out of combat, to the healing experience of living in South Korea and training under a Kung Fu Grandmaster who had grown up up in Japanese-occupied North Korea and was a guerrilla fighter against the Chinese Communists, to building an amazing and beautiful family through it all — who taught me my most valuable lessons. I strive to make tapestries rooted in the heart, mind, and soul…. ”