Prior to his retirement from the Navy in 2007, Captain van Tol served as special adviser in the Office of the Vice President. He was a military assistant to Andrew W. Marshall, the Secretary of Defense’s Principal Advisor for Net Assessment, from 1993-96 and again from 2001-2003. At sea, he commanded three warships, two of which, the USS O’Brien (DD-975) and the USS Essex (LHD-2), were part of the U.S. Navy's Forward Deployed Naval Forces based in Japan.
Captain van Tol’s analytic work has focused mainly on long-range strategic planning, naval warfare, military innovation, and wargaming.
Education
B.A. in Philosophy and Logic
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
M.S. in Operations Research
Naval Postgraduate School
Graduated (with distinction) College of Naval Command and Staff
Naval War College
