Smart Women, Smart Power

SWSP is creating space for women in one of the most powerful decision-making spaces in the world: national security and foreign affairs

The Smart Women, Smart Power (SWSP) Initiative has a simple starting point: people are policy. We are committed to creating a platform for respectful and inclusive discussion of the many ways in which women influence and impact the international security, foreign policy and business agendas. The Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative launched in December 2014.

Contact Information

  • Alexis Day
  • Program Manager and Research Associate, Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative and Outreach Manager, International Security Program.
  • aday@csis.org

Featured Event

Featured Podcasts

Smart Women, Smart Power Podcast

Beating Putin’s Playbook

Marie-Doha Besancenot, Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy, NATO, joins to discuss the different ways NATO is prioritizing this space.

Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — July 12, 2024

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Featured Events

Photo: JACK TAYLOR/AFP/Getty Images
Video On Demand

Lessons from Myanmar

Hosted by Smart Women, Smart Power
May 1, 2024 • 10:00 – 10:30 am EDT
See all events by Smart Women, Smart Power

Featured Analysis

Photo: Paval Hadzinski/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed)

Why Dictators are Afraid of Girls

Gender plays a powerful role in the construction and promulgation of power and identity that is particularly meaningful in authoritarian regimes.

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Photo: Jeremy/Adobe Stock

The Overturn of Roe v. Wade Raises Fundamental Questions

The overturn of Roe v. Wade will likely have significant implications for the composition, organization, and management of the U.S. armed forces—raising a number of practical questions for the U.S. military, many of which do not yet have answers.

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Take a Chance on Mentorship

Funmi Oludaiye, Managing Director (Global Head of Engineering), at Goldman Sachs, discusses how she advanced her career in STEM through hard work, mentorship, and relationship building.

Event — September 4, 2024

Smart Women, Smart Power Podcast

Take a Chance on Mentorship

Funmi Oludaiye, Managing Director (Global Head of Engineering) at Goldman Sachs, discusses how she advanced her career in STEM through hard work, mentorship, and relationship building.

Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — September 4, 2024

CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power

Secrets and Sacrifices: CIA, Benghazi, and Motherhood

The Honorable Sue Gordon joins CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power for a conversation on her career in the CIA, including her time in the CIA during the 2012 Benghazi attacks, all while balancing it all as a mother of two.

Event — August 21, 2024

Smart Women, Smart Power Podcast

Secrets and Sacrifices: CIA, Benghazi, and Motherhood

Sue Gordon, a 25-year CIA veteran, joins Dr. Kathleen McInnis and Lauren Bedula to discuss balancing her career and motherhood, as well as her experience during the 2012 Benghazi attacks, where she realized the changing nature of secrecy.

Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — August 21, 2024

CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power

What Does Infant Formula Have to do with National Security?

Laura Modi, co-founder/CEO of Bobbie, joins Dr. Kathleen McInnis and Lauren Bedula for a discussion on how her company was defined during a national infant formula shortage, including how symbolic it is to everything broken in our society for parents.

Event — July 24, 2024

Smart Women, Smart Power Podcast

What Does Infant Formula Have to do with National Security?

Laura Modi, founder of the first U.S. based manufactured organic formula company, joins Dr. Kathleen McInnis and Lauren Bedula, the Managing Director at Beacon Global Strategies, for a discussion on how her company was defined during a national infant formula shortage.

Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — July 24, 2024

CSIS Smart Women, Smart Power