Tom Nichols: The Naval War College Professor Challenging American Power From The Atlantic
A Naval War College professor and five-time Jeopardy champion, Tom Nichols now writes for The Atlantic, applying 25 years of national-security teaching to dissect presidential decisions and democratic decline.
Tom Nichols holds an unusual perch in American media: a tenured national-security expert who spent quarter-century teaching at the U.S. Naval War College, now publishing skeptical takes on presidential decisions from The Atlantic's masthead.
Nichols, a professor emeritus at the Naval War College where he taught for 25 years, joined The Atlantic as a staff writer and contributor to the Atlantic Daily newsletter. His analysis spans international security, nuclear deterrence, Russian geopolitics, and what he sees as existential threats to democratic institutions. He also teaches at Harvard Extension School and previously served as a legislative aide in both the Massachusetts House and the U.S. Senate.
His public intellectual work extends beyond journalism. Nichols authored two books: The Death of Expertise, which examines the erosion of specialized knowledge in public discourse, and Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy, focusing on internal democratic fracture. He has also won five consecutive Jeopardy championships, a detail that underscores both his breadth of knowledge and comfort with public intellectual combat.
At The Atlantic, Nichols writes with directness uncommon in establishment venues. Recent pieces challenge sitting administrations on foreign policy: he has questioned presidential rationales for military actions in Iran, criticized the terms of peace agreements, and argued that U.S. leaders misunderstand wars they initiate. His work reflects a recurring theme: that American power operates under constraints—moral, strategic, and nuclear—that politicians often ignore or deny.
Nichols' platform matters because he straddles two worlds. He brings classroom rigor to op-ed writing; he translates military-strategic thinking for general readers without condescension. His skepticism toward authority figures—including presidents and military planners—sits uneasily with his deep institutional credentials. That tension is precisely what readers encounter in his Atlantic columns: an insider arguing that insiders are failing the public.
