Colonel Jerome Greco, national security affairs fellow for the academic year 2024–25, is a career infantry officer in the Marine Corps. Outside of the Fleet Marine Forces, he has served as a Middle East foreign area officer, a policy advisor at Headquarters Marine Corps, a foreign security force advisor in the United Arab Emirates, and commanding officer of Marine Corps recruiting for the upper Midwest. He spoke about why he wanted to be a national security affairs fellow and his plans for his year at Hoover.
What did you know about Hoover before you applied to become an NSAF?
I knew it was a prominent think tank affiliated with Stanford. I knew a few of the high-profile fellows. I knew it was in California, so it has much better weather than all of the other think tanks in Washington, DC!
Aside from reconnecting and recharging with your loved ones, what are you most looking forward to doing with your year as an NSAF?
I came here initially with only two specific goals. First, I wanted to research and publish in an area that is relevant to me during the next several years of my career, which I will spend in recruiting. Second, I wanted to represent the Marine Corps well because for many of the civilians I interact with here at Stanford, I may be the only Marine they ever meet. I want them to walk away from that interaction feeling confident in their Marine Corps.
Since I’ve arrived, I’ve opened my aperture to leverage the broad interdisciplinary opportunities here in economics, strategy, history, and technological innovation. I’m really enjoying the opportunity to learn something new for its own sake, which is something I rarely had time for in a very focused day-to-day military career.
Have you met with your student mentees yet? What is the most interesting question they have asked you?
I have been working with them for a couple of months, and they are fantastic. It has honestly been more of a highlight than I expected it to be. One of them asked me if the US has a clear theory of cyber deterrence, which I thought was an unbelievably sophisticated and thoughtful question from an undergraduate student.
More broadly, I have been impressed with the students’ sense of citizenship. Whatever their individual policy leanings, they truly care about the future of their country.
In your view, what is the biggest misconception the civilian public has about life in the military (or national security services)?
Well, I wrote an op-ed on this! I think the biggest misconception the public has about veterans is that they are damaged by their service, that what they do is some sort of physical and psychological burden to be borne.
I love what I do. I feel privileged to do it. My service has made me stronger. I think that is true for most veterans.
Which Hoover fellow are you most looking forward to meeting/working with? Why?
I don’t know if I want to pick favorites! I’ve found every single fellow I have met fascinating—from incredibly accomplished senior fellows to those much younger in their careers.
What is your capstone/focus project for the year going to be?
My research looks at how the military ensures the continued viability of the all-volunteer force, with a particular focus on military recruiting. I have a secondary focus area in helping the Marine Corps build stronger connective tissue with Silicon Valley in support of Marine Corps innovation needs. I am in the early stages of a project to that effect.
What are you hoping to bring back to your service from your year at Hoover?
Aside from returning to the service a more educated and thoughtful leader, I hope to bring valuable connections to the corps. Marine Corps leaders in many levels can benefit from the world-class experts that populate Hoover, but they have to know about them, and they have to be connected.
What is America’s principal national security challenge today in your view? Why?
This may not be very original, but I think our principal national security challenge is our need to outcompete revisionist powers, led by the People’s Republic of China and Russia. We need to outcompete them economically, technologically, and militarily. We need to sustain that edge for a generation or more. That’s going to require vision, coherent strategy, excellence in execution, and strong national will.
