The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has announced the appointment of Dr Kori Schake as Deputy Director-General. Dr Schake is a leading defence expert who during her career has worked dynamically and creatively at the nexus of government, academia and think tanks.
Kori will join the IISS in February 2018 from the Hoover Institute at Stanford University where she is a Distinguished Research Fellow. As Deputy Director-General, she will oversee the Institute’s world-class research programme and act as a driving force behind initiatives to enhance the Institute’s work and profile, including developing new funding opportunities and deepening links with governments, the private sector, and the expert and opinion-forming communities internationally on strategic issues. Kori’s appointment comes as the IISS prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary year and underlines its commitment to expanding its research programme and widening its policy impact.
During her illustrious career, Kori has held policy positions across government, academia and think tanks, including working with both the military and civilian staffs of the Pentagon, in the White House at the National Security Council, and at the US State Department as Deputy Head of Policy Planning. She served as a senior policy adviser to Senator John McCain when he ran for president in 2008 as the Republican nominee. Her academic career includes appointments at the US Military Academy, Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland teaching strategy, war and European security.
As a prominent commentator on foreign policy, Kori has written widely on strategy and international relations for leading US and international publications, including Foreign Affairs, Survival and The Atlantic. She is a regular contributor to Foreign Policy’s ‘Editor’s Roundtable’ podcast. She has authored a number of books, most recently Safe Passage, an account of the transition from UK to US power on the global stage, published by Harvard University Press in November 2017, which is described by Professor Sir Lawrence Freedman as having a ‘compelling thesis, engagingly written and sharply argued’.
Dr John Chipman, IISS Director-General and Chief Executive, said: “I am delighted to welcome Kori Schake to the IISS in London as Deputy Director-General. She brings with her a wealth of policy and strategic experience at the highest level and will be an energetic, imaginative and inspiring IISS colleague as we expand our research programme and global reach.”
Dr Kori Schake said: “The exceptionally talented IISS team has been at the forefront of defence and security thought leadership for 60 years, and I’m eager to contribute to its work at this critical time of challenges to and reconsideration of the international order.”
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