Maureen Farrell is a nonresident senior fellow with the GeoStrategy Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. She is also vice president for Valar, a US company based in Nairobi, where she drives global partner engagement on security, counterterrorism, critical minerals, and a range of related issues. Farrell specializes in defense and security issues, particularly in Africa, and has over twenty-five years of experience across the US public and private sectors.
Most recently, Farrell served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for African affairs, overseeing US defense policy and strategy for the continent. Previously, Farrell was a director on the National Security Council staff, coordinating US government policy for defense, security, digital, and cyber issues, as well as the Horn of Africa. Prior to that, Farrell led US Africa Command’s Washington Liaison Office, facilitated the secretary of defense’s reform initiatives, and provided organizational policy advice in the Office of the Secretary of Defense around the stand-up of the US Space Force and reconstitution of US Space Command.
Farrell also managed foreign assistance programs at the Department of State’s Bureau of African Affairs and the Bureau of Counterterrorism. She was a founding member of the Socio-Cultural Research and Advisory Team at the Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa in Djibouti, where she trained US forces on regional cultural dynamics and conducted original social science research throughout East Africa. Earlier in her career, Farrell managed and implemented democracy and governance programs in Africa and Latin America. She also worked at the Congressional Research Service and served as a fellow to the House Subcommittee on Africa. In the private sector, she conducted sociocultural research for US government clients in Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa.
Farrell graduated from the National War College with a Master of Science in national security strategy. She also holds a Master of Arts from Georgetown University in international security studies. Farrell conducted grant-funded, original field research in Kenya and Uganda and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in anthropology and African studies from Northwestern University. Farrell is proficient in Swahili and speaks intermediate French.