CSIS Announces New Missile Defense Project

WASHINGTON, May 19, 2015 – The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today announced the launch of the Missile Defense Project, a new initiative examining a wide range of policy, program, and strategic issues related to missile defense. Dr. Thomas Karako, a senior fellow in the International Security Program and the Project on Nuclear Issues at CSIS, will lead the new project.

“We’re delighted to announce the project and to have Tom lead it,” said Dr. John J. Hamre, president, CEO and the Pritzker Chair at CSIS. “Missile defense is here to stay as a part of the security conversation, and we intend for CSIS to be a leading voice on the subject.”

“These capabilities continue to affect U.S. strategy and force posture to protect the United States homeland, our deployed forces and forward bases, and our partners and allies abroad,” said Dr. Kathleen Hicks, senior vice president, Henry A. Kissinger Chair, and director of the International Security Program. “Tom is well known for having worked on these issues in the academic and policy community and on Capitol Hill.”

“The missile defense problem isn’t just ballistic missiles anymore: the precision-guided revolution has spread to potential adversaries to include artillery, antiship missiles, cruise missiles, UAVs, hypersonics, and counterspace,” said Karako. “Global supply and demand continues to grow for high-precision, unmanned, mobile delivery systems—and for their corresponding air and missile defenses.”

Karako joined CSIS in 2014 and has written extensively on missile defense issues. For 2010–2011, he served as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow, during which time he worked with the professional staff of the House Armed Services Committee on U.S. strategic forces policy, nonproliferation, and NATO. He is also an assistant professor of political science and director of the Center for the Study of American Democracy at Kenyon College.

During the project’s first year, CSIS will produce a series of reports, writings, and events related to the range of missile threats and responses to counter them. Three related events have been held in the last several months on homeland and regional defenses, and later this year the project will produce a major report on the future of homeland missile defense.

For more on the missile defense project, please visit www.csis.org.

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The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, non-profit organization founded in 1962 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It seeks to advance global security and prosperity by providing strategic insights and policy solutions to decision makers.