Areas of Expertise

• High North
• Maritime Security
• Strategy

Academic Degrees

• Ph.D. Candidate, International Security and Economic Policy, University of Maryland
• M.A., International Security Studies, Georgetown University
• Master of Engineering Management, Old Dominion University
• B.S., Political Science, U.S. Naval Academy

U.S. Navy Cmdr. Rachael Gosnell joined the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies as a military professor in June 2023. She serves in the Strategic Studies Department and is the program manager for the European Security Seminar – North.

A European Foreign Area Officer (FAO) and Navy strategist, she brings academic and operational expertise in maritime security, strategy, and the High North. As a surface warfare officer, she served aboard USS Shiloh (CG 67) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), and as a weapons officer and combat systems officer aboard USS Stockdale (DDG 106).

Gosnell was stationed at Naval Support Activity La Maddalena, Italy, and at the Pentagon, where she served in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations’ Strategy and Policy division as speechwriter for the 30th Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert. She taught in the Political Science Department at the U.S. Naval Academy, where she also served on the admissions board, was the senior academic adviser for the Humanities and Social Sciences Division and was elected to the Faculty Senate.

As a FAO, Gosnell served as a country desk officer at U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa in Naples, Italy, and as speechwriter in the Commander’s Action Group for the commanders of Naval Forces Europe-Africa and Allied Joint Force Command Naples. She was selected as the assistant naval attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow and completed Russian language training.

At the Marshall Center, she is the program director of the High North Security Dialogue and Seminar on Russia. She served as deputy director of the Seminar on Irregular Warfare/Hybrid Threats.

Gosnell has published numerous articles examining Arctic security and has presented at conferences in the U.S., Iceland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Poland.