Stephen J. Flanagan is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at RAND Washington and Adjunct Professor of Security Studies at the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.

Flanagan has served in several senior positions in the U.S. government, most recently as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Defense Policy and Strategy at the National Security Council (NSC) Staff, 2013-2015. Between 1989 and 1999 he served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Central and Eastern Europe, at the NSC Staff; Associate Director and Member of the State Department’s Policy Planning Staff; and National Intelligence Officer for Europe. Early in his career, he was a Professional Staff Member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

He held the Kissinger Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2007 until 2013, where he also served as Senior Vice President and Director of the International Security Program. From 2000-2007 he was Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies and Vice President for Research at the National Defense University. He has also held research and faculty positions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and the National War College.

Flanagan has published six books and many reports, journal articles, and commentaries on transatlantic, international security, and defense issues. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the editorial board of the journal International Security. He earned an A.B. in political science from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in international relations from the Fletcher School, Tufts University.