Thomas Harper serves as the Senior Counsel in International Humanitarian Law (IHL) for the American Red Cross. In that capacity, he leads the Red Cross IHL Dissemination Program, which carries out the nation’s obligation under the Geneva Conventions to educate and inform the American public about the laws of war.

Thomas has spent his adult life in military uniform, having originally enlisted in the U.S. Army after high school. He commissioned as an Army officer via the North Carolina State University Army ROTC Program before attending law school at Campbell University in North Carolina. Thomas has spent more than 13 years as an Army Judge Advocate (military attorney), where he has served a variety of roles, including as an Operational Law attorney in Afghanistan, where he advised on IHL during combat operations. He is currently assigned as a Future Operations Attorney with the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, where he advises on space electromagnetic warfare.

Thomas also regularly uses Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and other movies and television shows to help teach about IHL on national stages, including at San Diego Comic-Con and other large pop culture conventions.