The Reluctant Theorist: Colin Gray and the Theory of Strategy James J. Wirtz - Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California United States of America To cite this article: Wirtz, James, “The Reluctant Theorist: Colin Gray and the Theory of Strategy”, In@nity Journal, The Strategy Bridge Special Edition, March 2014, pages 13-15. Military Strategy Magazine / "The Strategy Bridge" / About the author Dr. James J. Wirtz is Dean of the School of International Graduate Studies and former Chairman of the Department of National Security AQairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey, California. He served as the two-term Chairman of the Intelligence Studies Section of the International Studies Association and as the President of the International Security and Arms Control Section of the American Political Science Association. A graduate of the University of Delaware, with a Ph.D. from Columbia University, New York City, Dr. Wirtz is the author and co-editor of several books on intelligence, arms control and strategy. Colin Gray is a reluctant theorist. He is acutely aware of the achievements of the great strategic thinkers that he admires and that the objectives he set for Ce Strategy Bridge might in fact turn out to be a bridge too far. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he recognizes that he can only follow in the footsteps of Carl Von Clausewitz, which to his mind turns any eQort to trump the Prussian philosopher into a fool’s errand. Anyone who is familiar with Gray’s work also knows that he is adept at identifying the ]aws in competing eQorts to update, enhance or modify the insights oQered by the great theorists he embraces. He is in fact an expert at highlighting how logical ]aws, an inattention to historical detail or a focus on one element of strategy at the expense of other critical considerations, stymie such eQorts. One cannot escape the impression that Gray senses that the eQort to develop a general theory of strategy comes dangerously close to heresy and that heretics can be torched for their eQorts. Armed with only his intellect and a mastery of the literature, he has burned a few himself. The Reluctant Theorist: Colin Gray and the Theory of Strategy