Areas of Expertise

• National Joint Exercises
• Strategic Crisis Management
• Terrorism
• Civil-Military Relations
• National Security Network

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D., Contemporary History, University of Fribourg
• Licentiate in History, University of Fribourg
• Diploma Secondary Teacher Phil. I, Bern/ Lucerne
• Matura type E, Economics/English, Cantonal School Alpenquai Lucerne

Bernhard Wigger, Ph.D., joined the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in October 2021. He is seconded to the Marshall Center by the Swiss Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports (DDPS).

Prior to this assignment, Wigger led the Core Planning Team for national security network exercises within the DDPS. In this role, he served as project lead for the 2019 national exercise focused on terrorism response. From 2015 to 2021, he headed Switzerland’s Security Network Office.

Earlier in his career, Wigger served as political advisor to the Swiss Army Command Staff (2008–2012). He previously held roles as deputy chief of the Swiss Armed Forces’ Partnership for Peace program (2001–2007), doctrine officer in the Swiss General Staff (2000–2001), and head of scientific publications at the Army Training Center in Lucerne (1997–1999). He retired from the Swiss Armed Forces in 2013 with the rank of major, having served as an intelligence officer and company commander.

Wigger has also taught as a research assistant at the University of Fribourg’s Institute of Contemporary History (1993–1996). He currently serves as president of the Lucerne Initiative for Peace and Security and was a 2021 Swiss Government Fellow at the Global Fellowship Initiative of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.

He is fluent in German, English, and French.