Kelsey Hartigan

Kelsey Hartigan is the deputy director of the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) and a senior fellow with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In this role, she is responsible for managing the country’s preeminent national program for developing the next generation of nuclear experts. Prior to joining CSIS, Hartigan was dual-hatted as a faculty associate at the Naval Postgraduate School and a senior adviser to the director of the U.S. Special Operations Command Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate. From 2016 to 2019, she served as a policy adviser on North Korea, weapons of mass destruction crisis response planning, and nuclear proliferation in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Policy. Before joining the Department of Defense, Hartigan was a senior program officer at the Nuclear Threat Initiative and a nonproliferation and defense analyst at the National Security Network. She has also held positions with the International Security and Nuclear Weapons Program at the Henry L. Stimson Center and the U.S. Department of State's Delegation to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, Switzerland. Hartigan holds an MA from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, where she focused on technology and national security, and a BA from Purdue University.
Areas of Expertise
Media Queries
- H. Andrew Schwartz
- Chief Communications Officer
- 202.775.3242
- aschwartz@csis.org
- Paige Montfort
- Assistant Director of Communications, External Relations
- 202.775.3173
- pmontfort@csis.org
All Kelsey Hartigan Content
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Deter and Divide: Russia's Nuclear Rhetoric & Escalation Risks in Ukraine
Digital Report by Heather Williams Kelsey Hartigan Lachlan MacKenzie and Reja Younis — December 4, 2023
Project Atom 2023
Report by Heather Williams Kelsey Hartigan Lachlan MacKenzie Robert Soofer Tom Karako Oriana Skylar Mastro Franklin Miller Leonor Tomero and Jon Wolfsthal — September 29, 2023
Capstone Conference
Event — June 15, 2023
POSTPONED: Navigating the Maritime Domain: A Conversation with Admiral Lisa Franchetti, Vice Chief of Naval Operations of the U.S. Navy
Event — June 5, 2023
Alternative Nuclear Futures: Capability and Credibility Challenges for U.S. Extended Nuclear Deterrence
Report by Heather Williams Kelsey Hartigan Joseph Rodgers and Reja Younis — May 8, 2023
Press Briefing: Previewing AUKUS Leaders' Meeting
Event — March 10, 2023
Press Briefing: Previewing AUKUS Leaders' Meeting
Transcript by Charles Edel Max Bergmann Emily Harding and Kelsey Hartigan — March 10, 2023
Future Steps for U.S.-ROK Extended Deterrence Consultations
Commentary by Kelsey Hartigan — February 10, 2023
Report Launch: Growing Challenges, Rising Ambitions: AUSMIN 2022 and Expanding U.S.-Australia Cooperation
Event — December 1, 2022
The Nuclear Posture in Review
Event — July 29, 2022