Dave Polatty is the founder and former director of NWC’s Humanitarian Response Program and a visiting scholar at Brown University's Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs. He specializes in humanitarian response, crisis planning, and military strategy and operations. He is also a fourth-generation naval officer and a Navy Reserve captain. He has commanded five Navy Reserve units and currently serves as the Navy Emergency Preparedness Liaison Officer for Rhode Island. While on active duty from 1992 to 2003, he served as a surface warfare officer and naval flight officer.