Kathleen H. Hicks

Kathleen H. Hicks serves as Senior Fellow at both the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and Johns Hopkins University's Kissinger Center for Global Affairs. She previously held the position of 35th U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense where she led global operations of the Department of Defense as the nation's largest employer. Hicks is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and maintains active roles in national security policy development through board positions at the Aerospace Corporation and U.S. Naval Institute.

Hicks earned her academic credentials from prestigious institutions with a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an M.P.A. from the University of Maryland, and her bachelor's degree from Mount Holyoke College. These educational foundations have directly informed her extensive career trajectory across government and academic security policy domains.

Her scholarly work centers on national security strategy formulation, civil-military relations dynamics, and great power competition analysis. Hicks examines critical defense policy challenges including strategic tradeoffs between capabilities and threats, innovation in military technology, and regional security architecture in both Europe and Asia. Her research consistently addresses the practical implementation challenges of national security policy across political transitions and resource constraints.

Analysis of Hicks' publication record reveals sustained focus on defense strategy coherence, civil-military relations during presidential transitions, and U.S. security posture in contested regions. Her work demonstrates particular expertise in navigating the 'iron triangle' of defense tradeoffs while advancing military innovation through initiatives like the Third Offset Strategy. Recent publications increasingly address gray zone competition and the challenges of maintaining deterrence against revisionist powers.

• Senior Vice President and Director of International Security Program at CSIS (2010-2021)
• National Defense Strategy Commission membership
• National Commission on the Future of the Army leadership
• Testimony before Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees
• Strategic advisory roles for defense technology companies