Chuck Woodson
Senior Research Fellow
- cwoodson@miis.edu
Charles Richard “Chuck” Woodson is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counter Terrorism (CTEC). He graduated from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS), with a BA in International Policy Management and an MA in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies. While attending MIIS, Chuck co-founded the Special Operations Research Database (SORD) project with Professor Orion Lewis at the Middlebury College in Vermont. SORD gathers personal interviews of those that have experience in, or working with, Special Operations Forces (SOF), focusing on “lessons learned,” where there are opportunities to improve military doctrine and/or policy.
Chuck is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces “Green Beret” Chief Warrant Officer Four (CW4) with twenty-four (24) plus years of service. He has served in the European, Latin American, and Pacific Theaters. He earned his Combat Infantry Badge (CIB) in the Vietnam War in the late 1960’s as a Radio Operator on an A Detachment in the Central Highlands of South Vietnam. During his years of service he worked in current and future operations planning, intelligence, and served as the Antiterrorist Force Protection Officer (ATFP) in the Pacific Theater Special Operations Command (SOCPAC) in Hawaii before his retirement in 2006.
In his role at CTEC, Chuck will be working on counterterrorism and counter insurgency, related research projects. He will be collaborating with other researchers, students, faculty, and staff affiliated with CTEC.
Areas of Interest
Chuck’s areas of interest include research with members of the greater Special Operations Forces (SOF) community, collecting first-hand personal experiences, “lessons learned,” that can benefit military doctrine and policy in the areas of counter terrorism and counterinsurgency. Through the Special Operations Research Database (SORD) program the Special Operations and Counter Terrorism Research Practicum Class student teams have collected close to one-hundred (100) interviews to date. To name a couple of the key interviewees, the team has interviewed General (Ret.) David Petraeus and General (Ret.) Stanley McChrystal to date. With Chuck’s life experience serving in Special Operations for over twenty-four plus years he has an extensive network throughout the greater SOF community around the world. He will continue to reach out through his network to introduce potential stakeholders to the benefits CTEC and SORD will have on the greater SOF and policy community.
Research Centers
Academic Degrees
MILITARY SCHOOLS
U.S. Army Basic Training/Advanced Infantry Courses,
U.S. Army Airborne Course,
Special Forces Communications Qualification Course,
Primary Leadership Development Course,
Advanced NCOES Course,
Special Forces Assistant Operations and Intelligence Sergeant Course,
Warrant Officer Candidate School (Reserve Component),
Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Course,
Special Forces Warrant Officer Technical/Tactical Certification Course,
Special Forces Advanced Prerequisite Studies,
Special Forces Advanced Course,
Joint Psychological Operations Staff Planning,
Worldwide Joint Planning Orientation Course,
Advanced Special Operations Techniques Administrators Course,
Special Forces Warrant Officer Advanced Course,
Operations Security Managers Course,
Operations Security Tutorial Program for OPSEC Managers,
Anti-Terrorist Force Protection Intelligence Course.