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James Lockhart

Assistant Professor of Intelligence and National Security, The University of Texas at El Paso
Chapter Member: Dallas-Fort Worth SSN

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About James

Lockhart's research interests include American foreign relations, defense and security, and intelligence, especially across the Atlantic world and into the Global South. It offers policymakers and journalists informed and alternative ways to think about the United States and the world, particularly the effectiveness and impact of US strategies, policies, and operations in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. Lockhart has published in the Marine Corps University Journal, the International History ReviewInternational AffairsIntelligence and National Security, and the Journal of Intelligence History. He has been consulted on background and/or interviewed by investigative journalists in the US, Britain, Brazil, Australia, and the Emirates and has been a regular contributor to War on the Rocks. His two forthcoming books reconstruct the structural, organizational, and operational history of Cuban intelligence, and assess the career of Lt. Gen. Vernon Walters (defense attaché, deputy director of central intelligence, and ambassador), respectively.

No Jargon Podcast

In the News

Quoted by Matthew Bailey in "Brutal cartels are scaling up the drone threat – and the US is struggling to fight back," The iPaper, February 20, 2026.
Interviewed in "Cartel drone threat is real, expert says," KTSM9/NBC News, El Paso, Texas, February 20, 2026.
Interviewed in "Fort Bliss soldier charged with attempting to sell national defense secrets to Russia," KFOX14/CBS4 News, El Paso, Texas, August 6, 2025.
Interviewed in "Chile’s Coup, 50 Years On," (with Kristian Gustafson) The Washington Times: History As It Happens, September 20, 2023.
Interviewed in "American Intelligence on Ukraine," (with Christopher Moran) International Affairs Blog, March 10, 2022.

Publications

"John le Carré’s Southern Turn: British Intelligence and Degenerative Satire in Post-Cold War Latin America and Africa" (with Micah Robbins). Intelligence and National Security 38 (2023): 258-270.

Argues John le Carré’s post-Cold War novels set in Latin America and Africa embrace southern attitudes, discard his earlier ambiguity toward British intelligence, and critique UK foreign relations through the literary strategies of irony and satire. These stories highlight le Carré’s intention to deny legitimacy to British interventions in the Global South.

"Principal Consumer: President Biden’s Approach to Intelligence" (with Christopher Moran). International Affairs 98 (2022): 549-567.

The first assessment of President Joe Biden's approach to intelligence, argues that, against the ever-changing context of international affairs, Biden's approach has remained consistent and stable, showing enthusiasm for the production of national intelligence, and a marked uneasiness about paramilitary covert action and the militarization of intelligence.

"Cuba and the Secret World" The International History Review 43 (2021): 170-184.

Discusses the origins and nature of the Castro regime’s security and intelligence services, including the development and prioritization of their missions. Identifies the milestones that defined these services’ institutional history. Then connects this history to post-Cold War US–Cuban relations.