Christopher Skaluba led the Transatlantic Security Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, where he and his team directed a broad portfolio of programming related to NATO and transatlantic security as well as managed a vast network of expert fellows.

Before joining the Atlantic Council, Chris served as a career civil servant in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, rising from presidential management fellow to the senior executive service. Among his roles in the Pentagon, Chris served as the principal director for strategy and force development, where he was responsible for assessing the future of international security and crafting the Defense Department’s strategies to develop a prepared, capable, and effective US military. Chris also served a lengthy tenure as the principal director for European & NATO Policy, where he formulated and implemented US defense policy for Europe and conducted defense relationships with thirty-one European nations. In this capacity, he helped inaugurate the European Deterrence Initiative in the aftermath of Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. In other roles, Chris served as the acting deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East Policy and in the Pentagon’s Policy Planning office, working primarily on long-term competitive strategy development. His private sector experience includes completion of the Walt Disney Company’s management development program.

Chris is a graduate of the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University where he earned a Master of Arts in International Relations and where he intermittently serves as an adjunct Professor of Practice in International Relations. He also holds a Master of Arts in English from Syracuse, teaching numerous classes in writing and rhetoric while pursuing his degrees. Chris holds a Bachelors’ degree in English and History from Penn State University. His writing and commentary are widely solicited and have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, the Economist, USA Today, War on the Rocks, and on various Atlantic Council platforms. He was the editor-in-chief of the seminal essay series, NATO 20/2020: Twenty Bold Ideas to Reimagine the Alliance After the 2020 US Election, where he was also a contributing author.