Major Jonathan Fagins is a visiting scientist at the Center for Global Security Research (CGSR) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. His CGSR research interests include pathway to defeat methods, countering weapons of mass destruction, non-proliferation, defense policy, and nuclear deterrence projects. A recent relevant publication Jonathan authored is "Maintaining Presence: How do Special Operations Forces Contribute to the Deterrence and Assurance Mission in Europe?" His research highlights how the core activities of Special Operations Forces (SOF) may complement traditional deterrence and assurance in Europe. At CGSR, he is working with Zachary Davis and Michael Nacht on publishing a chapter about Russian Special Forces titled Strategic Latency Unleashed: A SOF Perspective.
Jonathan is a U.S. Army Special Forces Officer with 19 years of service. His deployments include Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Niger, and Burkina Faso. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in general science from the United States Naval Academy. Additionally, Jonathan received a Master of Science degree in defense analysis (irregular warfare) from the Naval Postgraduate School in 2019 and a Master of Science degree in international relations (national security affairs) from Troy University in 2020.
He is married to Teah Fagins and together they have three children. Jonathan enjoys a myriad of activities, including hiking, CrossFit, surfing, and camping with his family. He also enjoys coaching youth sports.