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Dr Thomas Mahnken is one of the United States most senior and highly respected strategic thinkers. He was recently appointed by the US Congress to be a member of the Commission  tasked with preparing a new strategy for the United States. In this special seminar Dr Mahnken will address the key issues that are confronting the Commission and discuss some of the current dilemmas now before senior United States defence decision-makers. This is a very special opportunity for Future Strategic Leaders to hear a key player in American strategic and defence policy.

Dr Thomas Mahnken

Dr. Thomas G. Mahnken is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

He is a Senior Research Professor at the Philip Merrill Center for Strategic Studies at The Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and has served for over 20 years as an officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve, to include tours in Iraq and Kosovo.

On 21 July 2017, Dr Mahnken was appointed a member of the National Defense Strategy Commission. This Commission is tasked with preparing a report to be submitted to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the Committee on Armed Services of the House of Representatives, and the Committee on Armed Services of the Senate. The report will detail threats to the United States, the potential for conflicts arising from such threats, and how the US Department of Defense should prepare to meet those challenges.

Dr Mahnken’s government career includes service as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Policy Planning from 2006–2009, where he helped craft the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review and 2008 National Defense Strategy. He served on the staff of the 2014 National Defense Panel, 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel, and the Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the United States Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction. He served in the Defense Department’s Office of Net Assessment and as a member of the Gulf War Air Power Survey. In 2009 he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service.

Dr. Mahnken is the author of Strategy in Asia: The Past, Present and Future of Regional Security (Stanford University Press, 2014), Competitive Strategies for the 21st Century: Theory, History, and Practice (Stanford University Press, 2012), Technology and the American Way of War Since 1945 (Columbia University Press, 2008), and Uncovering Ways of War: U.S. Intelligence and Foreign Military Innovation, 1918–1941 (Cornell University Press, 2002), among other works.