His current research project examines Great Power ontological security and the origins of the First World War. A 2009 alumnus of Washington & Lee, where he studied Politics, History, and Classics, Wes earned a Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Science from The Johns Hopkins University, and an M.Phil. in Modern European History from the University of Cambridge. His work in the field of diplomatic and documentary history has appeared in the published George C. Marshall Papers, and his study of abolitionist political agitation and the historical reception of the Stono Rebellion has been published in the journal Southern Studies.