Albert James Wohlstetter (1913–1997) was an influential American political scientist, strategist, and nuclear policy expert whose work profoundly shaped U.S. Cold War deterrence theories. Born in New York City, he earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the City College of New York in 1934 and pursued graduate studies at Columbia University. Early in his career, Wohlstetter worked as a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research under Simon Kuznets and Arthur F. Burns. During World War II, he contributed to economic analysis for the U.S. government and later worked in industry before serving as Director of Programs for the National Housing Agency from 1946 to 1947, collaborating on modular building designs.

In 1951, Wohlstetter joined the RAND Corporation as a nuclear strategist and RAND director of strategic studies, where he led groundbreaking studies on nuclear strategy, including a seminal 1950s report demonstrating the vulnerability of Strategic Air Command bases to surprise Soviet attacks. This report influenced the development of fail-safe procedures and hardened missile silos. His 1958 article, "The Delicate Balance of Terror," outlined key requirements for credible nuclear deterrence beyond the U.S.-Soviet context. Wohlstetter emphasized the importance of robust, survivable second-strike capabilities and expressed skepticism toward arms control agreements, reflecting his hawkish stance on Soviet threats. His intellectual contributions included critiques of overly simplistic deterrence models and advocacy for strategic planning that accounted for human error and systemic vulnerabilities, bridging operations research, political science, and policy analysis and significantly influencing U.S. military posture and nuclear policy during the Cold War.

Beginning in 1963, he served as a professor at the University of Chicago, where he mentored prominent neoconservative figures such as Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, R. James Woolsey, and Zalmay Khalilzad—whom he advised during his doctoral studies and connected with government and RAND contacts. Wohlstetter was a key intellectual influence on multiple neoconservatives.

In recognition of their contributions to national security, both he and his wife, historian and intelligence expert Roberta Wohlstetter, received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan in 1985.