Former Defense Department and intelligence official will lead an important mission of developing strategies to address the most important security challenges.

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 13, 2023 – The Atlantic Council announced today that Matthew Kroenig, previously acting director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, has been named the center’s new senior director.

Kroenig has served in various roles in the Department of Defense and intelligence community in the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations, and is also a professor in the Department of Government and Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. In May 2022, Kroenig was appointed by Congress as a Commissioner for the Strategic Posture Commission. He joined the Scowcroft Center in 2013 as a nonresident senior fellow and then was hired as the center’s deputy director in 2018.

Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe said, “Kroenig is well-known to the Atlantic Council community and brings an impressive array of experience that will position him well for success in this role, including an entrepreneurial spirit, a dynamic and results-oriented work ethic, deep expertise in national security, and a growing set of managerial talents. He has a clear vision for how the Scowcroft Center can shape US and allied strategies at a critical inflection point for the global order.”

Kroenig is a prolific scholar and author, and has written or edited numerous works including The Return of Great Power Rivalry: Democracy versus Autocracy from the Ancient World to the US and China. He is a co-author of the biweekly It’s Debatable column at Foreign Policy, and regularly provides analysis and commentary for outlets including CNN, the Wall Street Journal, PBS, the New York Times, and more.  

“I am honored to be named senior director of the center bearing General Scowcroft’s name, especially at such a critical time in global geopolitics,” said Kroenig. “The center will continue to honor his legacy as a scholar and statesman of the highest integrity and humility, while producing nonpartisan strategies and advancing mentorship of the next generation of leaders.”

Since its founding, the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security has become known for its long-term strategy development and foresight analyses; its hard-hitting work on the future of defense; and its efforts to strengthen transatlantic and transpacific alliances and partnerships. More information about the center and its work can be found here.

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