Rob is a computational social scientist specializing in business process optimization, innovation management, and high-risk decision-making. Johnston is the chief scientist at Johnston Analytics, he’s a lecturer in artificial intelligence, national security, and research methods at Johns Hopkins University. Johnston is a distinguished visiting scholar at North Carolina State University (NCSU) and a senior advisor to Pryon Inc., and several risk management, intelligence, and supply-chain organizations.  

Johnston’s research has focused on the intersection of technology, social science, and group performance in high-risk decision-making contexts. At the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Rob was the deputy director of globalization and modernization, chief of the business process improvement group, founder and chief of the lessons learned program, the director of the lessons learned office at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), and a research scientist in the office of the chief scientist at CIA and the recipient of CIA’s Sherman Kent Award.

Johnston’s doctorate is from the University of Houston, and he has conducted fieldwork in North and Central America, China, Europe, the Caucasus, East and South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. He has published over 50 articles, book chapters, and books, and has been a guest speaker at over 200 national and international conferences and special events.