Preston McLaughlin
Adjunct Lecturer - Bush School DC
Colonel Preston McLaughlin, USMC (Retired)
Updated 22 February 2024.
Colonel Preston McLaughlin joined the Bush School of Government and Public Service in the spring of 2022 and teaches National Security Policy at the Texas A&M Washington, DC, Teaching Site. Colonel McLaughlin joins the Bush School after retiring from a twenty-seven-year career in the USMC, specializing in Indo-PACOM with tours in command and higher staff in III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan and Marine Forces Pacific, Oahu, Hawaii.
Colonel McLaughlin served as a Company Commander twice, and as an Inspector-Instructor with the Marine Corps Reserve, Commanding Officer, Combat Assault Battalion, 3d Marine Division, and Commanding Officer, Marine Corps Security Force Regiment in Norfolk, VA. His last assignment was as the Chief of Staff for 2d Marine Expeditionary Brigade-Afghanistan.
The 2D Marine Expeditionary Brigade is a recipient of the Presidential Unit Citation for its work in Afghanistan in 2009-2010.
Colonel McLaughlin is a Combat Veteran of Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm and Enduring Freedom. In 1991-1992 he was a United Nations Military Observer in the Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania. He also served as a Course Director and Faculty Adviser at the Amphibious Warfare School, Marine Corps University.
Colonel McLaughlin served in the Tidewater Virginia area three different times. He is a Joint Qualified Officer after service with the Joint War Fighting Center in Suffolk, VA. He has been a Guard Officer at Marine Barracks, Norfolk, and a plank-holder with Fleet Anti-Terrorist Security Team Company, and the Marine Corps Security Force Regiment.
Post Marine Corps retirement, he has taught at The Citadel, and has been an Assistant Professor at The US Army War College. He also served as a Senior Manager in the Security and Intelligence Directorate at the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency-DARPA. He is also the Chairman on the Board of Directors for The Center for a Secure Free Society, a 21st Century Think Tank in Washington D.C. In June 2023 he was selected as a Non-Resident Fellow AY24-26 for the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation and Future Warfare at Marine Corps University. In this capacity he is affiliated with the Center for Irregular Warfare, Defense Security Cooperation University.
Colonel McLaughlin earned a master’s degree in American History at George Mason University, a Masters in Military Studies from Marine Corps University and a Masters in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College.
Colonel McLaughlin is married to Colonel Michelle C. McLaughlin, Medical Service Corps, USAR Ret. who currently serves as a Department of the Army civilian Emergency Management Planner, and Policy Analyst. They are blessed with two sons; Captain Patrick C. McLaughlin USMCR, a civilian Analyst with Group W Corporation and Mr. Brendan J. McLaughlin, an architectural student at Catholic University of America.
