Caitlin Welsh

Director, Global Food and Water Security Program
Caitlin Welsh

Caitlin Welsh is the director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where she analyzes the drivers and consequences of food and water insecurity around the world, including for U.S. national security. Her specific areas of focus include the impacts of Russia’s war in Ukraine on global food security and nutrition, food insecurity in the U.S. military, and the coherence between U.S. global water security policy and U.S. global food security policy. Prior to joining CSIS, Ms. Welsh served for over 12 years in the U.S. government, including at the National Security Council and National Economic Council as director for global economic engagement with responsibility for the G7 and G20, and at the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Global Food Security, where she served as acting director. Ms. Welsh was a presidential management fellow at the U.S. African Development Foundation and a Peace Corps volunteer in Morocco. She has testified before Congress on global food security on multiple occasions, and her analysis has been featured in the New York Times, CNN, NPR, PBS, the Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, BBC, Newsweek, and other outlets. Ms. Welsh received her BA from the University of Virginia and MPA from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and hails from Erie, Pennsylvania. 

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China's Food Security Challenges

Please join the Interpret: China project and a panel of experts for a discussion of China's food security challenges.

Event — December 6, 2023

The CommonHealth

What do we make of 2023’s summer of climate shocks?

In this episode of The CommonHealth, we share the audio of a September 11 conversation among several different CSIS scholars on the question of whether the climate shocks of this summer were simply a continuation of underlying trends – an exclamation point – or a thunderclap signaling the arrival of a new moment.

Podcast Episode by J. Stephen Morrison Stephanie Segal Joseph Majkut and Caitlin Welsh — September 15, 2023

Photo: iLab/CSIS

Why Is Russia Blocking Ukraine's Food Exports?

Continuing to block Ukraine’s agricultural exports is in Russia’s economic and political interest, as it manipulates its own food exports to appease food-importing countries. And its exit from the deal has not contributed to a global food price shock—for now.

Critical Questions by Caitlin Welsh Joseph Glauber and Emma Dodd — September 15, 2023

Press Briefing: Previewing the High-Level Week of UNGA 78

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) will host a call-in press briefing on to preview the high-level General Debate at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 78), which will begin Tuesday, September 19.

Event — September 14, 2023

2023’s Summer of Climate Shocks

What happened this summer? Were successive climate shocks merely an exclamation point to a deeper ongoing march? Or were they a thunderclap, signaling a pivot?

Event — September 11, 2023