Will Rogers

Will Rogers is a national security and foreign policy professional. Will calls on more than 15 years of experience in government and civil society to drive national defense strategies, policies, and initiatives. He specializes in connecting and aligning national security innovators across the federal government, state and local government, academia, and industry.

Will served as the Senior Climate Advisor to the Secretary of the Army, the first individual to ever hold the position where he was focused on the Army’s warfighting mission. In this role, he served as the Army’s principal advisor on climate change risks, preparedness, and energy resilience. Will advised senior leaders on mechanisms to leverage the Department of the Army’s $165 billion buying power to strengthen the U.S. critical infrastructure that enables the warfighting mission.

In this role, Will also served as counselor to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Installations, Energy and Environment), where he worked closely with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), Service senior climate advisors, federal agencies, and the White House to ensure strong collaboration and alignment with U.S. energy security goals.

Before joining the Department of the Army, Will served as the Deputy Legislative Director and National Security Advisor to Senator Brian Schatz of Hawaii, where he led the Senator’s work as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During his near decade-long service in the Senate, Will authored several national security bills that he helped Senator Schatz enact into law. This included legislation regulating how the DoD manages installation and operational energy vulnerabilities. Specifically, the laws focused on incorporating current and future threats into installation master planning – including military facility siting, design, and construction to build stronger military communities.

Before serving in government, Will was a fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), where he led the Center’s research program on climate change, energy, and national security. He also worked as a researcher at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Will is currently an adjunct professor in the Johns Hopkins University Global Security Studies program, where he lectures on climate change and national security.

Will is also an adjunct senior fellow at CNAS, where he supports the center’s climate and energy security research.

Education

Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, M.A. in Security Studies

University of California San Diego, B.A., Political Science-International Relations

Location

Washington, District of Columbia

Back to Our Team