Grieco brings deep foreign policy and defense expertise to Council’s New American Engagement Initiative

Washington, DC—January 4, 2022— The Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security today announced the hire of Dr. Kelly Grieco as a senior fellow within the New American Engagement Initiative (NAEI). Grieco joins co-directors Christopher Preble and Mathew Burrows to advance NAEI’s mission of challenging the assumptions underlying US foreign policy and helping policymakers to set priorities and allocate resources to address the most urgent challenges.

“Dr. Grieco’s deep expertise fits well with the Atlantic Council’s mission of shaping the global future with allies and partners,” said NAEI co-directors Christopher Preble and Mathew Burrows. “There has never been a greater need for NAEI’s mission, and Dr. Grieco is poised to make an immediate policy impact.”

“There has never been a greater need for NAEI’s mission, and Dr. Grieco is poised to make an immediate policy impact.”

NAEI co-directors Christopher Preble and Mathew Burrows

“The addition of Dr. Grieco to the Scowcroft Center will help us envision and advance a new kind of US engagement in the world,” added Barry Pavel, senior vice president and director of the Scowcroft Center. “Meeting the challenges of the current geopolitical era requires fresh thinking and new, positive forms of global engagement in closest cooperation with U.S. allies and partners. I look forward to Dr. Grieco’s contributions to this major endeavor.”

“The addition of Dr. Grieco to the Scowcroft Center will help us envision and advance a new kind of US engagement in the world.”

Barry Pavel, senior vice president and director of the Scowcroft Center

Kelly Grieco brings to the Atlantic Council expertise in foreign and defense policy, specializing in US defense strategy, strategic competition, military alliances, air and space operations, and the future of war. She was previously an assistant professor at the Air Command and Staff College, Air University, where she also served as a course director for war theory and the director of instruction in international security. She has held fellowships from the MIT Center for International Studies (CIS), the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the Tobin Project. Her work has appeared in a range of outlets, including European Voice, International Politics, Parameters, Responsible Statecraft, and Strategic Studies Quarterly. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

“It is an honor to join the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center, named after the strategist and public servant whose legacy is an example to me and so many,” said Grieco. “I look forward to challenging the prevailing assumptions of US foreign and defense policy and to working with the New American Engagement Initiative’s impressive team of foreign and defense policy experts on developing innovative national security policies.”

“I look forward to challenging the prevailing assumptions of US foreign and defense policy and to working with the New American Engagement Initiative’s impressive team of foreign and defense policy experts on developing innovative national security policies.”

Dr. Kelly Grieco

NAEI—launched in 2020—fills a major gap in creative and innovative strategies at a critical time for the United States’ changing global role. Building upon the foreign policy thinking of the late Brent Scowcroft, two-time US National Security Advisor and Atlantic Council chairman, the long-term aim for this initiative is to transform the national security debate within the policy establishment and in the broader media. Housed in the Scowcroft Center, NAEI generates fresh thinking that informs a robust debate over sustainable grand strategies for the United States. 

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