{"id":159,"date":"2023-07-19T10:14:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-19T14:14:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/intelligence-and-security-studies\/?post_type=person&#038;p=159"},"modified":"2026-10-13T16:12:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T20:12:45","slug":"jonathan-nelson","status":"publish","type":"person","link":"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/intelligence-and-security-studies\/faculty-staff\/jonathan-nelson\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan Nelson, MSSI, USAF (RET)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 id=\"h-jonathan-nelson-mssi-usaf-ret\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Jonathan Nelson, <strong>MSSI, USAF (RET)<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 id=\"h-professor-of-practice\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Professor of Practice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jonathan Nelson is a Professor of Practice in The Citadel\u2019s Department of Intelligence and Security Studies. A retired U.S. Air Force senior noncommissioned officer and former Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, he brings experience in counterintelligence, investigations, and mental health counseling to his teaching and research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His military career included assignments in Europe and the Pacific and deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He served as a regional program manager for Air Force counterintelligence operations in Europe and Africa and as a supervisory special agent overseeing forensics, polygraph, counterintelligence, and technical services in the Pacific.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His academic interests center on cognitive warfare and the psychological dimensions of intelligence analysis, human source operations, deception, and influence. He teaches courses in counterintelligence, intelligence collection, homeland security, surveillance, and military and political deception. His teaching integrates case studies, practical exercises, and simulations to help students develop sound judgment and make decisions under uncertainty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Degrees<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>M.S., Clinical Mental Health Counseling \u2014 Walden University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>M.S., Strategic Intelligence \u2014 National Intelligence University<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>B.A., Intelligence Studies \u2014 American Military University<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jonathan Nelson, MSSI, USAF (RET) Professor of Practice Jonathan Nelson is a Professor of Practice in The Citadel\u2019s Department of Intelligence and Security Studies. A retired U.S. Air Force senior noncommissioned officer and former Special Agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, he brings experience in counterintelligence, investigations, and mental health counseling to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":711,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":""},"class_list":["post-159","person","type-person","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.0 (Yoast SEO v28.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Jonathan Nelson, MSSI, USAF (RET) - Department of Intelligence and Security Studies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jonathan Nelson is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Citadel in Charleston.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/intelligence-and-security-studies\/faculty-staff\/jonathan-nelson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Jonathan Nelson, MSSI, USAF (RET)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jonathan Nelson is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at The Citadel in Charleston.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/intelligence-and-security-studies\/faculty-staff\/jonathan-nelson\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Department of Intelligence and Security Studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-13T20:12:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.citadel.edu\/intelligence-and-security-studies\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/85\/Nelson_Jonathan_IMG_0524_00222-683x1024.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.citadel.edu\\\/intelligence-and-security-studies\\\/faculty-staff\\\/jonathan-nelson\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.citadel.edu\\\/intelligence-and-security-studies\\\/faculty-staff\\\/jonathan-nelson\\\/\",\"name\":\"Jonathan Nelson, MSSI, USAF (RET) - 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