Kathleen Larkin

Kathleen Larkin is a nonresident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative, part of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Larkin is also an account executive at KBR, Inc, focused on building relationships across the interagency and with US Combatant Commands.

Previously, Larkin served as the first Arctic security officer at the US Department of State from 2019 to 2026. She joined the State Department in 2013 as a presidential management fellow and served as a budget analyst in the Bureau of Budget and Planning from 2013 to 2015. During her fellowship, she participated in two development rotations, covering an extended staffing gap on the Albania desk and serving in the Political and Economic Section at the US embassy in Lisbon, Portugal. From 2015 to 2019, Larkin worked as the Bosnia and Herzegovina desk officer in the Office of South Central Europe, where her portfolio included political and economic developments, human rights, counterterrorism, the rule of law, and sanctions. From July 2024 to February 2025, Larkin served as the director for the Balkans and Central Europe at the National Security Council, leading interagency efforts in seventeen countries.

Prior to joining the US Department of State, Larkin worked with a number of federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of the Interior, and the Department of Justice, gaining expertise on topics ranging from performance management to the land rights of Native Hawaiians.

Larkin holds a BA in history from Harding University in Arkansas and an MPA from the American University in Washington, DC. She is originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado.