Tucker Hughes ’01

Overview

Deputy Director for Studies & Analysis, The Joint Staff J-8, Department of War
Arlington, VA

• BA, Economics, Vassar College
• MA, Economics, George Mason University
• MMS, Military Studies, Marine Corps University, Command and Staff College

Tucker Hughes is currently Deputy Director for Studies and Analysis in the Joint Staff’s Force Structure, Resources, and Assessment Directorate (J-8) at the Pentagon. He oversees studies, analysis, and assessments of the capability, capacity, and readiness of U.S. military forces, today and in the future, to support the J-8’s efforts to evaluate defense strategy, plans, and programs for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A career civil servant, Tucker previously served as Chief of the Resource Analysis Division and Chief of the Strategic Analysis and Integration Division at the U.S. Army Center for Army Analysis. He also served as a liaison at U.S. European Command and U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, as well as in the Headquarters, Department of the Army, G-3, Strategy, Plans, and Policy Directorate, and in the Army’s Enterprise Task Force (now the Office of Business Transformation). As both an analyst and a strategist, he has extensive experience with quantitative and qualitative analysis on resources, installations, stationing, force structure, force generation, readiness, the feasibility of plans for major conventional combat, and other topics.

Advice to Students: 

How you are able to communicate what you have done is, at least, as important as what you actually did. Learning to write and verbally present complex ideas clearly and concisely is an underrated talent, and one that will pay dividends no matter where you end up working. Take every opportunity that you can to get comfortable presenting, even if it’s just in small group settings.