Dr John Gearson is Reader in Terrorism Studies at King's College London. From 2002 he was on secondment to the House of Commons where he was advising the Defence Select Committee on Defency Policy. Previously he worked as a management consultant, was a special advisor to the City of London Corporation on the terrorist threat to the City, and advised the U.S. Congress National Commission on Terrorism. Until his secondment John was Director of the MA in Defence Studies at King's and he continues to lecture in terrorism and defence policy at the college. He has taught at the University of London on the inter-collegiate history programme, where he completed his MA and PhD degrees in War Studies, the latter as a King's College Scholar, and also holds a BSc (Econ) in International Politics with Strategic Studies from University of Wales, Aberystwyth. John was a Research Fellow of the Nuclear History Project and the German Historical Institute, London, and is a regular contributor to media outlets including the BBC, ITN, Sky News, Reuters and various foreign news organisations. John resumed his teaching at the JSCSC as of 1 Feb 2007.