Theresa Luetkefend

  • Associate Director
  • Contact email: tluetkefend@atlanticcouncil.org
  • Media queries: press@atlanticcouncil.org

All Content

Issue Brief

Jul 3, 2025

A pivot to China—not Asia

By Clementine G. Starling-Daniels, Edward Brady, Theresa Luetkefend

The next National Defense Strategy must prioritize competition with China beyond the Indo-Pacific—and clearly define how to recalibrate the size, structure, and posture of US forces.

Defense Industry Defense Policy

In the News

May 13, 2025

Starling-Daniels and Luetkefend quoted in WMAL article titled “In Great Power Competition, Special Ops to Play Key Role”

On May 3, Forward Defense director Clementine Starling-Daniels and assistant director Theresa Luetkefend were quoted in a WMAL article titled “In Great Power Competition, Special Ops to Play Key Role.” The article highlights their argument that, after two decades primarily focused on counterterrorism and direct-action missions during the Global War on Terror, today’s peer and […]

Africa Defense Policy

Insights & Impact

Apr 17, 2025

Clementine Starling-Daniels and Theresa Luetkefend co-author DefenseNews op-ed titled “Questions Congress should ask about DOD ‘peace through strength’ plan”

On April 16, Forward Defense director Clementine Starling-Daniels and assistant director Theresa Luetkefend published an op-ed in DefenseNews. The article, titled “Questions Congress should ask about DOD ‘peace through strength’ plan,” analyzes the Department of Defense’s Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance memo and the Trump administration’s defense priorities.

Defense Policy English

Theresa Luetkefend is an associate director in the Atlantic Council’s Forward Defense program, where she leads the initiative’s work on defense strategy and military operations. Originally from Germany, Luetkefend previously worked at the Berlin-based Global Public Policy Institute (GPPi) on a number of security related issues, including the use of chemical weapons in Syria and reintegration of veterans in Ukraine. Prior to her time at GPPi, she spent several months at the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

Luetkefend holds master’s degrees in Russian and East European Studies from the University of Oxford and in international relations with a focus on strategic studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She received a bachelor’s degree in social sciences from Humboldt-University in Berlin.