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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State of Play

Was the G7 Summit in France a Success?

Victor Cha, Kristi Govella, Phil Luck, and Caitlin Welsh join Will to assess how meaningful the outcomes of the G7 Summit were.

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — June 17, 2026

Photo: iLab/CSIS

AI for Food Security Forum

The CSIS Global Food and Water Security Program will host a public event on the applications of AI for global food security.

Event — April 30, 2026

Audio Briefs

Can the United States Enable Post-Conflict Stability?

An audio version of “⁠Can the United States Enable Post-Conflict Stability?⁠,” a new commentary by CSIS’s Andrew Friedman, Enoh T. Ebong, Brad Brooks-Rubin, J. Stephen Morrison, Leonard Rubenstein, Will Todman, Juliana Rubio, Emma Curtis, Caitlin Welsh, Michaela Simoneau, and Sophia Hirshfield. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — April 10, 2026

Audio Briefs

Iran, Fertilizer, and Food Security: Risks, Impacts, and Policy Responses

The war with Iran is threatening global agriculture markets and food prices, with some impacts emerging and more expected in the coming months. What can policymakers do to protect farmers and consumers—in the United States and around the world? 

Critical Questions by Caitlin Welsh — April 1, 2026