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
- Associate Director, Smart Women, Smart Power Initiative
- ADay@csis.org
Featured Event
Solving the World’s Hardest Problems with Mellody Hobson: Closing the Racial Wealth Gap
Featured Analysis

Photo: K. Kassens/U.S. Army via DVIDS
Women: Mission Essential Personnel
Commentary by Kathleen McInnis — November 18, 2024

Photo: iLab/CSIS
Countering China and Russia: The Hidden Advantages of Women, Peace, and Security
Brief by Kathleen McInnis, Benjamin Jensen, Audrey Aldisert, and Alexis Day — November 14, 2024

Photo: CSIS
What Difference Does It Make?
Report by Kathleen McInnis and Alexis Day — October 15, 2024
Featured Podcasts

Beating Putin’s Playbook
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — July 12, 2024

Decoding the Pentagon Bureaucracy
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — November 6, 2024

Lessons from Myanmar
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — May 1, 2024

Building Trust in Nuclear Diplomacy
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis and M. Elaine Bunn — April 3, 2024
All Smart Women, Smart Power Content
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Inside Modern Defense Tech
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — June 11, 2025

Putin's Next Soldiers: Ukrainian Children
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — May 29, 2025

Why We Need Women in Special Forces
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — May 14, 2025

Trust the Work, Trust Yourself
Event — April 30, 2025
Trust the Work, Trust Yourself
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — April 30, 2025

Whole of Society Resilience Lessons from Russia-Ukraine | Conflict in Focus
Event — April 17, 2025
Whole of Society Resilience Lessons from Russia-Ukraine
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis — April 17, 2025

Whole of Society Resilience Lessons from Russia-Ukraine | Conflict in Focus
Transcript — April 17, 2025
Sealing the Interagency Cracks: The United States in Oceania
Commentary by Kathleen McInnis and Benjamin Jensen — March 13, 2025
Sealing the Interagency Cracks: The United States in Oceania
Podcast Episode by Kathleen McInnis and Benjamin Jensen — March 13, 2025
