Samuel Byers is the Senior National Security Advisor at the Center for Maritime Strategy. He is also the chair of the National Maritime Awards Dinner and a long-time judge of the annual National History Day competition.

Mr. Byers’ research interests include geopolitics, the effects of technology and bureaucracy on national security, and the lessons history provides for contemporary foreign policy challenges.

He served for two years as a civilian analyst on the staff of the Secretary of the Navy, conducting research and analysis to support the Department of the Navy’s strategic goals. Prior to this, he worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies and covered the defense and national security portfolio for the Vandenberg Coalition.

Mr. Byers holds an MA with distinction from the War Studies Department at King’s College London, where his dissertation focused on the politics behind the construction of America’s all-steel Navy in the 1880s and 1890s. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with degrees in diplomatic history and political science.