Deputy Assistant Director and Dean for Institutional Capacity Building
Mr. Peterson assumed duties as the Deputy Assistant Director and Dean for
Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) within the Defense Security
Cooperation University (DSCU), a component of the Defense Security
Cooperation Agency (DSCA), in September 2022. The DSCU ICB mission
is to lead ICB policy and programs, advancing the practice of ICB, and drive
professionalization of the ICB workforce.
As a security cooperation and ICB professional for over fifteen years, Mr.
Peterson has experience in government, academia and the private sector.
He previously served as the founding Director of DSCU’s Institute for
Security Governance (ISG) from 2019 to early 2023 and led the transition of
the Center for Civil-Military Relations (CCMR) to DSCA from the Naval
Postgraduate School (NPS) in 2018-19. As ISG and CCMR Director, Mr.
Peterson drove the development of DSCA’s primary ICB implementing
organization and a leading international schoolhouse and served as an
advisor to DSCA leadership. From 2010 to 2019, he served as a member of
the CCMR and NPS faculty, focused on ICB, security sector governance
and organizational development. Mr. Peterson joined NPS following five
years supporting various offices within the Office of the Undersecretary of
Defense for Policy.
Mr. Peterson received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from
Bethel University (Minnesota) and a Master of Science degree in Defense
and Strategic Studies from Missouri State University.