Dr. Colin Kahl is a member of the AI-NC3 Executive Committee.

Dr. Colin Kahl is the Steven C. Házy Senior Fellow at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, faculty director of CISAC’s Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and Governance, and a professor of political science by courtesy. From April 2021 to July 2023, he served as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where he was the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense on national security and defense policy and a standing member of the National Security Council Deputies’ Committee. He oversaw the 2022 National Defense Strategy, led the Department’s policy response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and helped advance major defense diplomacy initiatives including NATO strengthening, AUKUS, force posture enhancements in the Indo-Pacific, and deeper strategic ties with India.

Dr. Kahl previously served as Deputy Assistant to President Obama and National Security Advisor to Vice President Biden, as well as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East. He is the co-author of *Aftershocks: Pandemic Politics and the End of the Old International Order* and the author of *States, Scarcity, and Civil Strife in the Developing World*, with additional writing on U.S. national security and defense policy appearing in major policy and academic outlets. He has taught at Georgetown University and the University of Minnesota, held fellowships at Harvard, the Council on Foreign Relations, CNAS, and the Penn Biden Center, and earned his B.A. from the University of Michigan and Ph.D. from Columbia University.