Description

Spiral Solutions & Technologies, Inc. (SS&T) is seeking a Senior Strategic Issues Specialist to support United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM)/J57 under the Strategic Wargaming and Research of Deterrence Support (SWARDS) requirement. This position provides advisory and assistance services (A&AS) to sustain and enhance USSTRATCOM's deterrence planning, wargaming, analytic agenda, and allied engagement efforts. This is a contingent-on-award role.

The position provides senior-level analytic and advisory support spanning deterrence mission analysis, wargaming and experimentation, analytic agenda development, and allied burden-sharing assessment. The specialist coordinates complex analytic efforts with minimal oversight, applies deep expertise in deterrence theory and the U.S. nuclear enterprise, and advises senior leaders by synthesizing diverse analytic inputs into actionable insights.

Security Clearance Requirements

This position requires access to classified systems and material supporting national-security programs. All contractor personnel must be U.S. citizens and maintain a Top Secret (TS) security clearance, with eligibility for Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI), Nuclear Command and Control (NC2), and Special Access Programs (SAP) accesses. Eligibility for required accesses must be held at time of task order award or prior to commencement of work/replacement approval. Personnel must comply with the task order DD Form 254, Department of Defense Security Classification Specification, applicable USSTRATCOM security instructions, cybersecurity and physical-security requirements, and all applicable requirements for handling classified and restricted-distribution information.

Requirements

Key Responsibilities
• Support deterrence mission analysis, including assessments of adversary perceptions, deliberate and campaign deterrence planning across all deterrence periods, and development of strategies to impose prohibitive costs on adversaries.
• Support development of courses of action to achieve deterrence strategies and approaches for measuring and evaluating the deterrent impact of U.S. actions.
• Support impact assessment of deterrence campaigns and risk-of-strategic-deterrence-failure assessments.
• Contribute senior-level expertise to professional military wargaming, including design, development, execution, adjudication, and post-game analysis at the strategic and operational levels.
• Support scenario development, including multi-domain, joint, and interagency scenarios supporting deterrence analysis, OPLAN/CONPLAN assessment, crisis decision-making, and strategic competition.
• Apply deterrence-focused analytic methodologies, including Deterrence Impact Analysis, hypothesis-based experimentation, or equivalent structured analytic techniques.
• Assist in developing, refining, and documenting USSTRATCOM's Analytic Agenda, including literature reviews, research, and engagement with practitioners, academics, and other stakeholders.
• Coordinate complex analytic efforts with minimal oversight while maintaining strict compliance with all inherently governmental boundaries.
• Advise senior leaders by synthesizing diverse analytic inputs and translating complex findings into actionable insights, supported by strong oral and written communication skills.
• Capture and synthesize lessons learned from wargames, experiments, and strategic assessments, producing DoW-formatted, publication-ready reports, briefings, and documentation for senior leaders.
• Apply current knowledge of U.S. Government decision-making processes, including interagency coordination, national-level decision structures, and the roles of senior civilian and military leaders in crisis and deterrence contexts.
• Apply knowledge of the transactional nature of U.S. alliances, the imperative of allied burden-sharing, and competitive dynamics that influence strategic decision-making.
• Apply knowledge of joint planning processes, strategic military operations, and the U.S. nuclear enterprise, including integration of USSTRATCOM OPLAN/CONPLAN activities with Geographic Combatant Command plans.
• Prepare trip reports, technical reports, and presentation materials documenting analysis, meetings, and travel results in accordance with contract deliverable requirements.

Required Qualifications
• A minimum of 12 years of experience in U.S. defense policy, strategic deterrence, wargaming, operational planning, or strategic analysis within the Department of Defense, Joint Staff, a Combatant Command, or an equivalent national security organization.
• Master's degree (or higher) in Political Science, International Relations, Security Studies, Economics, STEM, Military Operations, or a related national security field.
• Demonstrated knowledge of deterrence theory, deterrence models, historical U.S. deterrence strategies, and their defining characteristics, applications, and outcomes.
• Demonstrated expertise in professional military wargaming, including design, development, execution, adjudication, and post-game analysis at the strategic and operational levels.
• Demonstrated knowledge of scenario development, including multi-domain, joint, and interagency scenarios supporting deterrence analysis, OPLAN/CONPLAN assessment, crisis decision-making, and strategic competition.
• Demonstrated experience applying deterrence-focused analytic methodologies, including deterrence impact analysis, hypothesis-based experimentation, or equivalent structured analytic techniques.
• Demonstrated experience with U.S. Government decision-making processes, including interagency coordination, national-level decision structures, and the roles of senior civilian and military leaders in crisis and deterrence contexts.
• Demonstrated experience with the transactional nature of U.S. alliances, the imperative of allied burden-sharing, and the competitive dynamics that influence strategic decision-making.
• Demonstrated experience in joint planning processes, strategic military operations, and the U.S. nuclear enterprise, including integration of USSTRATCOM OPLAN/CONPLAN activities with Geographic Combatant Command plans.
• Demonstrated experience capturing and synthesizing lessons learned from wargames, experiments, and strategic assessments, with proven ability to produce DoW-formatted, publication-ready reports, briefings, and documentation for senior leaders.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the current strategic threat environment, including nuclear, conventional, cyber, and emerging technology challenges relevant to U.S. deterrence and strategic competition.
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate complex analytic efforts with minimal oversight while maintaining strict compliance with all inherently governmental boundaries.
• Strong communication skills and demonstrated experience advising senior leaders, synthesizing diverse analytic inputs, and translating complex findings into actionable insights.
• Demonstrated knowledge of historical and current U.S. nuclear policy and strategy.
• U.S. citizenship required.
• Active Top Secret (TS) security clearance with eligibility for SCI, NC2, and SAP access, required at time of task order award or prior to commencement of work/replacement approval.

Preferred Qualifications
• Prior direct experience supporting USSTRATCOM, another Combatant Command, Joint Staff, or an equivalent national security organization across deterrence, wargaming, and allied engagement mission areas.
• Experience contributing to allied burden-sharing analysis or assessment of allied contributions to collective deterrence.
• Familiarity with emerging AI-enabled analytic tools and their application to deterrence and wargaming decision-support products.
• Experience supporting strategic deterrence education initiatives or engagements with JPME-accredited institutions and service academies.