James H. Baker (DOD)

This article is about the foreign policy advisor. For other uses, see James Baker (disambiguation).

James "Jim" Baker is an American foreign policy advisor who formerly served as the director of the Office of Net Assessment in the United States Department of Defense.

James H. Baker
2nd Director of Office of Net Assessment
In office May 14, 2015 – March 13, 2025
President	Barack Obama Donald Trump Joe Biden Donald Trump
Preceded by	Andrew Marshall
Succeeded by	Office abolished
Personal details
Nationality	American
Education	University of Florida (MS) Michigan State University (MS) National War College (MS) Air Command and Staff College (MS)

Education

Baker earned a master's degree in electrical engineering from Michigan State University in 1990. In 1993, he earned another master's degree, in operations research and systems engineering, from the University of Florida. In 1999, he attended the Air Force's Air Command and Staff College for a masters in Military Sciences. In 2006, he returned to school at the National War College to earn a master's in national security studies. He later completed certificate programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Business School.^{[citation needed]}

Career

On May 14, 2015 Baker was selected to be the director of the Office of Net Assessment.^[1] He is responsible for providing the United States Secretary of Defense with comparative assessments of the prospects of the military capabilities of the United States relative to other actors, as well as the political, economic and regional implications of those assessments. He previously served as strategist and advisor to two chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.^[2]