Ben comments and writes on the higher management of defence, military strategy, operations and tactics, military innovation and adaptation, modern warfare and land warfare, in particular. He also covers 

• Military analysis of major recent and current conflicts
• Military innovation and adaptation
• Land forces capability
• Formulation and execution of military strategy, defence reviews and reform
• UK defence policy and capability. 

Ben joined the IISS in 2010, before which he served in the British Army. As well as training in Germany, France, Cyprus, Canada, Portugal and New Zealand, and operational service in Hong Kong and Northern Ireland, he commanded both an armoured infantry battalion and a multinational brigade on UN and NATO operations in Bosnia. He was Director of the British Army Staff in the UK Ministry of Defence and author of the Army’s lessons learned analysis of post-conflict stabilisation of Iraq. Ben is the author of Harsh Lessons: Iraq, Afghanistan and the Changing Character of War and  The Road from Sarajevo: British Army Operations in Bosnia, 1995–1996. He is a visiting professor at the War Studies Department at King's College London