Warren Pulley
Founder & Executive Director · Island Security Policy Institute · 2026
Biography
Warren Pulley is the Founder and Executive Director of the Island Security Policy Institute — a nonprofit think tank dedicated to public safety and security policy for island and coastal communities worldwide. ISPI is headquartered in Honolulu, Hawai'i and its research serves 600 million people across 39 Small Island Developing States globally.
Pulley brings operational experience across six security disciplines to ISPI's research. His practitioner background is the synthesis layer governing every ISPI research product — the operational knowledge base that distinguishes ISPI's island-specific frameworks from continental policy adapted for island application.
Six Operational Knowledge Domains
Domain 01
U.S. Air Force Nuclear Security
Security operations protecting U.S. nuclear assets. Force protection doctrine, access control, and threat response protocols for high-consequence environments where failure is not recoverable.
Domain 02
LAPD Metropolitan Law Enforcement
12 years at the Los Angeles Police Department with a specialty in child exploitation, human trafficking, vice crimes, and metropolitan intelligence operations.
Domain 03
U.S. Embassy Baghdad — Diplomatic Security
Six years as a Diplomatic Protective Specialist at the U.S. Embassy Baghdad under Triple Canopy.
Domain 04
FEMA Emergency Management
FEMA ICS/NIMS certified across more than 20 certifications including COOP, EOC activation, mass notification, and disaster recovery. Applied to Hawaii island emergency management contexts.
Domain 05
Behavioral Threat Assessment & Management
BTAM-certified through the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP). More than 2,400 documented real-world threat assessments conducted across Hawaii, nationally, and internationally.
Domain 06
University Campus Safety — Honolulu
Director of Safety at a major Honolulu university. Clery Act compliance, Title IX coordination, behavioral threat assessment, active threat protocol development, and institutional emergency preparedness.
Research & Publications
ISPI research draws on government agency sources, regional organization data, and open-source reporting, and each paper cites its sources. Start with his foundational paper, WP-01, Island-State Security, or read current analysis on the ISPI blog.
ISPI Research Library — 22 Published Documents →
All ISPI research papers, policy briefs, assessment reports, and research books
SSRN Author Profile — Warren Pulley →
Social Science Research Network — full publication record
ORCID Profile — 0009-0007-8694-0149 →
Open Researcher and Contributor ID — verified academic identity
Academia.edu Profile — Warren Pulley →
Papers and policy briefs on Academia.edu
Wikidata Entity — Q139822665 →
Verified Wikidata entity for Warren Pulley
Press & Media
PRLog: Island Security Policy Think Tank Launches →
ISPI institutional launch announcement — May 2026
PRLog: Why Federal Agencies Must Commission Independent Island Security Research →
Policy argument for independent island security research
PRLog: The Research Gap State and Local Island Governments Cannot Afford to Ignore →
State and local government research gap analysis
