Douglas M. Johnston
Senior Fellow Alumnus
Douglas M. Johnston, Ph.D., was president and founder of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD). He has served in various positions as a White House appointee and lectured at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
He is known for developing a new synergy for peacemaking based on the joint contributions of religion and politics, as articulated in his book, Religion: The Missing Dimension of Statecraft. Dr. Johnston’s hands-on experience in reconciliation and peacemaking reflects his deep interest in religion and conflict resolution stemming from his 20-year involvement with the National Prayer Breakfast and his service on the board of the Washington Theological Consortium.
Johnston is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, and he holds a degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University. He has a broad range of executive experience in government, academia and the military, starting with 10 years in the submarine service, where, at the age of 27, he was the youngest officer in the U.S. Navy to qualify for command of a nuclear submarine.
Most recently, Johnston served as the executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Among his other duties, he chaired the CSIS programs on maritime studies and on preventive diplomacy.
Among his assignments in government, Johnston was a planning officer in the President’s Office of Emergency Preparedness, the director of policy planning and management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the deputy assistant secretary of the Navy (Manpower). In academia, he taught international affairs and security at Harvard University. He was the founding director of the Kennedy School’s Executive Program in National and International Security.
Johnston has edited and authored several books, including Foreign Policy into the 21st Century: The U.S. Leadership Challenge and Faith-based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik.
Selected Publications and Scholarly Work
• The Historical Foundations of World Order: The Tower and the Arena (2008)
• Faith-Based Diplomacy: Trumping Realpolitik (2003)