Michael Sparks is currently a PhD Candidate and International Security Studies Fellow at The Fletcher School at Tufts University. His fields of study are international security and political theory, with a focus in military innovation and asymmetric warfare. Prior to his current studies he served four years as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps. He served as a platoon commander and combined anti-armor team leader with 1st Battalion, 2d Marines, completing deployments to Eastern Europe and the Southeast Pacific. He later deployed with Task Force Southwest 18.1 as an advisor to the Afghan National Army’s 215th Corps in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. He left active-duty service in December of 2018 to conduct social work projects in Cochabamba, Bolivia for the next eighteen months. He matriculated to The Fletcher School in August of 2020. He is a 2013 graduate of The Citadel and a 2022 graduate of The Fletcher School’s Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy.

Poster Abstract: In May of 2020, the United States Marine Corps introduced an innovation project titled Force Design 2030. The project calls for a complete restructuring of the Marine Corps to focus on countering the People’s Republic of China’s anti-access/area-denial strategy. The research presented on this poster points to the efficacy of these efforts and how it fits into the overall pattern of innovation pursued by the Marine Corps.