Prof. John Melkon

Mr. John Melkon is an Assistant Professor at the United States Military Academy and has been charged with building and leading the Center for the Study of Civil-Military Operations at West Point since 2012. In this capacity he is responsible for facilitating the coordination, planning and execution of the strategic vision and mission for the Center to educate faculty, cadets and the community of practice. He also teaches Seminars on Sub-Saharan African Geography, as well as the Geography of the Middle East and North Africa. 

He is an Extraordinary Professor of Practice at North-West University in South Africa. He has co-authored a chapter in the textbook Effective Civil-Military Interaction in Peace Operations and has appeared on panels at Princeton University, USAFRICOM, the United States Institute of Peace and the US Naval War College. He currently serves on the Board for the Alumni and Friends of Princeton ROTC. 

Prior to his service at CSCMO, Mr. Melkon served as a Senior Operations Advisor to the United States Army Africa in Vicenza, Italy from 2009 to 2012. He was responsible for providing strategic liaison to Inter-Agency and multi-national partners and advising the command on critical operational planning. During that tenure he served the command in OPERATION ODYSSEY DAWN. He was also a Strategic Operations Officer for the Department of Defense from 2006 to 2009 with service to OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. 

Before re-entering public service Mr. Melkon worked as an International Banking Associate for Credit Suisse First Boston in Frankfurt, Germany. Prior to his civilian service Mr. Melkon was an Army Special Forces Officer who served for over thirteen years on five continents and dozens of countries before retirement. In over twenty-five years of national security service to the United States of America, Mr. Melkon has had operational and combat experience in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Central and South East Asia. His expertise spans a wide range of civil-military operations, unconventional warfare, counterterrorism, counterinsurgency and foreign internal defense. 

Since 9/11 Mr. Melkon has served multiple combat tours in Afghanistan as a uniformed and civilian service member. During that time he planned and executed combat operations with elements of Joint Special Operations Task Forces and other Special Operations Forces against elements of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and various terrorist organizations. He has received a number of awards including the French Medal for National Defense, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Secretary of Defense Medal for the Global War on Terrorism and the Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award from a Joint Special Operations Task Force. He is Special Forces, Ranger and Airborne qualified. 

He is a graduate of the National Senior Intelligence Course and also an FBI Certified Crisis Negotiator. Mr. Melkon received his A.B. in History from Princeton University where he also played football, lacrosse and rugby. He is presently a PhD candidate at Stellenbosch University in South Africa. He holds an MA in European Politics and History and a Certificate of Professional Achievement in Risk Management from Columbia University. He also holds an MBA from the Lowry Mays School of Business and an MPIA with honors from the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. He is also a Harvard John F Kennedy School Senior Executive in National and International Security. Mr. Melkon has lived or deployed overseas for nearly fourteen years. He maintains proficiency in several different languages including French, Korean and German among others.