Col. R. Alan King

Middle East expert Col. R. Alan King is a retired leader of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. Under his command, the unit became the most decorated civil affairs battalion in the history of the US Army.

King served 16 months in Iraq with the U.S. Army, first as a Civil Affairs battalion commander, then later as a deputy director of the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad. King was the top civil-military adviser in Baghdad when the previous Iraqi regime fell in 2003. He is also credited with leading the coalition’s tribal affairs and Sunni outreach programs and served as a senior member of the April 2004 ceasefire talks in Fallujah. During his 16 month tour of duty, King met with approximately 3,500 sheiks, clerics and other local Iraqi leaders and was made a sheik himself.

Based on his experiences in Iraq, King published his first book in 2006, Twice Armed: An American Soldier’s Battle for Hearts and Minds. King is a graduate of Webster University in St. Louis, East Tennessee State University and the US Air Force Air War College.