Eric Driggs is a Professor of Practice at the William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies. He has over sixteen years of federal service as a civilian. He previously worked for six years as a US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) Legislative Affairs Officer, serving as a Pentagon-based liaison between the Command and relevant Senate and House committees. Prior to SOUTHCOM, he served ten years as the Governmental and External Affairs Officer for the Seventh Coast Guard District (now Southeast District) in Miami, where he was the policy advisor and external representative for the Admiral overseeing all Coast Guard operations in the southeastern United States and the Caribbean. Professor Driggs was also an analyst at the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami, where he focused on humanitarian affairs, disaster management, human rights, and current events in Cuba. Prior to his time at the University of Miami, he was the in-country representative of a Harvard Center for International Development project in the Dominican Republic focused on public sector technology integration.

Professor Driggs also served 20 years in the Coast Guard Reserve, retiring in August of 2025 as a Commander. He began his career executing port security missions on boarding teams protecting critical maritime infrastructure. He also served in the Coast Guard Reserve Unit assigned to SOUTHCOM, supporting regional defense summits and participating in international military exercises with partner nations in Latin America. Professor Driggs fulfilled short-term duty as the Coast Guard Liaison Officer at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo, executing operational coordination between the US Coast Guard and the Dominican Navy. He also served in the Incident Management Support Team (IMAT), a Deployable Specialized Forces unit focused on disaster response and incident management training throughout the fleet. Professor Driggs was part of several responses to significant disasters, including the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, the devastating Haiti earthquake of 2010, and multiple hurricane responses, most notably Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.

Professor Driggs earned a Bachelor's Degree in International Relations and Development Studies from Brown University, and a Master’s in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. He is a co-author of the book Covert City, focused on Miami as a significant hub of clandestine activity in the Cold War and how that experience shaped the city. He is the son of Cuban parents and the grandson of the Director of the Cuban Naval Academy during the Second World War.