Jonathan Ahlstrom

Jonathan (Jon) Ahlstrom is an independent defense consultant serving a mix of private and government clients. He is a recently retired U.S. Navy captain whose 24-year career spanned submarine command, the White House, the National Security Council, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He previously served as the director for AUKUS on the National Security Council staff and as a special assistant to the secretary of defense, where he helped frame and launch the AUKUS security partnership. He played critical roles in negotiating multiple binding and nonbinding agreements, revising International Traffic in Arms Regulations, and expanding advanced capability development cooperation to include New Zealand, Japan, Canada, and the Republic of Korea. A career submarine officer, he commanded the USS Columbus (SSN-762) and served aboard both fast-attack and ballistic missile submarines conducting Western Pacific deployments and strategic deterrent patrols. As a White House Fellow at the U.S. Agency for International Development, he co-led efforts to draft and implement a development strategy in the context of great power competition, which included the launch of an international infrastructure certification initiative in partnership with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation and the Department of State. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the Los Angeles Police Department Leadership Advisory Board. He holds a BS in systems engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy, an MA in geostrategy and defense from Sciences Po Aix-en-Provence, an MBA from Imperial College London, and a certificate in national security studies from MIT.