Dr. Kathleen J. McInnis Rejoins CSIS as Senior Fellow and Director of the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative

WASHINGTON, April 14, 2022: The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Kathleen J. McInnis, a former specialist in international security at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), has rejoined CSIS as senior fellow and director of the Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative.

During her time at CRS, Dr. McInnis served as a senior expert to Congress on a variety of strategic issues including defense policy, military operations, civilian-military relations, irregular warfare, and global strategy. From 2015 to 2022, she was also a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council of the United States. Prior to CRS and the Atlantic Council, she worked as a research consultant at Chatham House in London, writing on NATO and transatlantic security matters. From 2006 to 2009, Dr. McInnis served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy), working on NATO operations in Afghanistan. In that capacity she helped synchronize U.S. and allied operational plans, strategies, and capabilities. During her last time working at CSIS from 2004 to 2006, Dr. McInnis analyzed U.S. nuclear weapons strategy, European security, and transatlantic relations. She also worked as a researcher in the UK House of Commons, focusing on NATO, the European Union, and U.S.-UK political-military relations, from 2001 to 2003.

“Dr. McInnis has outstanding credentials to direct Smart Women, Smart Power,” said Seth G. Jones, senior vice president and director of the International Security Program at CSIS. “She is a leading expert on national security issues with an impressive career in the U.S. government.”

Dr. McInnis is widely published; her articles have been featured in outlets including The Atlantic, Foreign Policy, the Washington Quarterly, Defense News, Defense One, and War on the Rocks. She is the author of two books: How and Why States Defect from Contemporary Military Coalitions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2019) and the novel The Heart of War: Misadventures in the Pentagon (Post Hill Press, 2018). Dr. McInnis also teaches courses on creativity and statecraft at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

“I am honored to be rejoining CSIS at this critical moment. In particular, I look forward to working with the brilliant International Security Program team and CSIS colleagues to advance our understanding of the intersection of gender and national security as well as develop solutions for pressing transatlantic and global strategic challenges,” said Dr. McInnis.

Dr. McInnis holds a PhD in war studies from King’s College London, a master of science degree in international relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a bachelor’s degree in international studies and political science from Towson University.