About Earl H. Tilford

Dr. Earl Tilford is a military historian and fellow for the Middle East & terrorism with the Institute for Faith and Freedom at Grove City College. He currently lives in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. A retired Air Force intelligence officer, Dr. Tilford earned his PhD in American and European military history at George Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, he served as Director of Research at the U.S. Army’s Strategic Studies Institute. In 2001, he left Government service for a professorship at Grove City College, where he taught courses in military history, national security, and international and domestic terrorism and counter-terrorism.

Keeping Watch in Dr. Strangeloveland

“Heck, I reckon you wouldn’t even be human if you didn’t have some pretty strong personal feelings about nuclear combat.”                                                                          Maj. King Kong, USAF Charges of treason leveled by politicians and journalists against Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of … Continue reading

Gaza: Total War Reality

The current fighting in Gaza rapidly approaches total war intensity. Strategy for Hamas has always involved the total war objective of annihilating Israel. For Israel, fighting Hamas and Hezbollah, which is based in Lebanon and Syria, involves a long, protracted … Continue reading

COVID 19: Yes, this is War

In mid-March, President Donald Trump declared himself a “wartime president.” While the usual legion of media critics bellyached, Trump during the COVID-19 pandemic has rallied the country to a semblance of togetherness not seen since the terrorist attacks of September … Continue reading

Afghan Imbroglio in Context

Last weekend, U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad and Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, representing a Taliban delegation, signed an agreement that could lead to substantive peace negotiations between all parties involved in what has become America’s longest war. In October 2001, … Continue reading

Higher Education in an Increasingly Diverse Culture

“The direction in which education starts a man will determine his future in life”                                                                                                                          Plato Howard Mumford Jones, an English professor at the University of Michigan and later at Harvard, long ago commented that American colleges and … Continue reading

The Strategic Effect of Operation Kayla

Raids, like Operation Kayla resulting in the death of Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi and other ISIS terrorist leaders, are usually small affairs with limited results. Nevertheless, such meticulously planned and superbly executed raids also can have significant strategic implications. Roughly five decades … Continue reading

A Time of Civility Needed Again

Tonight, President Donald Trump will visit Minneapolis. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey stated, “While there is no legal mechanism to prevent the president from visiting, his message of hatred will never be welcome in Minneapolis.” For those too young to remember, … Continue reading