Brandon Cortino is a Senior Associate for Nuclear Policy at the Institute for Security and Technology (IST). He specializes on Russian thought in defense policy after living 19 months in Russia including a year studying advanced Russian at Saint-Petersburg State University. He has previously worked as a Deterrence Analyst at United States Strategic Command and as a Research Associate at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Global Security Research, where he conducted research on Russian thought in arms control. He holds a Master in International Studies degree from North Carolina State University and was a nuclear policy research assistant for Dr. Robert Reardon with National Nuclear Security Administration funding.