Ambassador Steven Pifer, BA ’76, a top expert in U.S.-European relations, arms control and security issues and retired State Department Foreign Service officer, has been named to a new senior position at Stanford University.

Starting in September 2018, Pifer will be a William J. Perry Fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI). At FSI, he will be affiliated with the Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC) and The Europe Center (TEC), where he will lead the European Security Initiative.

From 2008-2017, Pifer was a senior fellow in the Arms Control and Non-Proliferation Initiative, Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence, and the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution, where his work focused on nuclear arms control, Ukraine and Russia. At Brookings, he authored The Eagle and the Trident: U.S.-Ukraine Relations in Turbulent Times and co-authored The Opportunity: Next Steps in Reducing Nuclear Arms as well asnumerous papers, op-eds and articles.

A retired Foreign Service officer, his more than 25 years with the State Department included assignments as deputy assistant secretary of state in the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs (2001-2004), ambassador to Ukraine (1998-2000), and special assistant to the president and senior director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia on the National Security Council (1996-1997). In addition to Ukraine, Pifer served at the U.S. embassies in Warsaw, Moscow and London as well as with the U.S. delegation to the negotiation on intermediate-range nuclear forces in Geneva. From 2000 to 2001, he was a visiting scholar at Stanford’s Institute for International Studies.

Michael McFaul, director of FSI, said, “I am delighted to have Steve join our team. In addition to his scholarly and policy work on European security and nuclear arms control, we look forward to his teaching and training a new generation of leaders from Stanford University.”

“His expertise will be invaluable in developing the European Security Initiative,” said Anna Grzymala-Busse, incoming director and senior fellow in FSI’s Europe Center.

Scott Sagan, senior fellow at CISAC, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Steve back to Stanford, where his deep nuclear expertise and policy experience negotiating arms control agreements will serve as an immense asset to CISAC researchers, students and fellows.”

Pifer’s work at Stanford will include teaching in the CISAC Fellows’ Policy Workshop, and teaching a course on European security in the Master’s in International Policy program at FSI.

Pifer expressed his excitement, saying, “I am delighted to return to Stanford and honored to have the opportunity to join CISAC and FSI to support Stanford’s unparalleled research, teaching and policy work in international security.”

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Colin H. Kahl will serve as co-director of the social sciences for Stanford’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC).

Kahl, a top international security expert and veteran White House advisor, is the Steven C. Házy Senior Fellow at Stanford’s Freeman Spogli Institute (FSI) for International Studies. He begins his new position on September 1, following Amy Zegart, the previous co-director for the social sciences. Rodney Ewing is the CISAC co-director for science and engineering.

Prior to Stanford, Kahl was an associate professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service. From 2014 to 2017, he was deputy assistant to the U.S. president and national security advisor to the vice president. In that position, he served as a senior advisor to President Obama and Vice President Biden on all matters related to U.S. foreign policy and national security affairs, and represented the Office of the Vice President as a standing member of the National Security Council Deputies’ Committee.

Kahl’s research is focused on American grand strategy and a range of contemporary international security challenges, particularly digital and nuclear security, which are core CISAC research areas.  He also leads the Middle East Initiative at FSI. The Initiative seeks to improve understanding of how developments in the Middle East impact people in the region and security around the globe.

In the Winter Quarter, Kahl will teach a course, “Decision Making and U.S. Foreign Policy,” in the Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy program; he will also co-teach CISAC’s introductory class, “International Security in a Changing World.”

“For more than three decades, CISAC has been one of the nation’s premier centers for interdisciplinary research on international affairs,” Kahl said. “The Center has a long tradition of bringing together social scientists and hard scientists to conduct cutting edge, policy-relevant research on some of the most pressing security challenges we face,” Kahl said. “I look forward to working with Rod Ewing and my other CISAC colleagues to continue and expand upon this tradition of excellence.”

“Colin Kahl, who has both academic and extensive policy experience through his work in government and think tanks, will be a terrific co-director and asset to CISAC,” said Ewing.

“We are thrilled that Colin will be leading CISAC with Rod Ewing. Colin’s extensive experience in both theory and policy will enhance CISAC’s work in all areas,” said FSI Director and Senior Fellow Michael McFaul.

Kahl received his B.A. in political science from the University of Michigan (1993) and his Ph.D. in political science from Columbia University (2000).

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Colin H. Kahl, Center for International Security and Cooperation: ckahl@stanford.edu
Katy Gabel, Center for International Security and Cooperation: (650) 725-6488, kgabel@stanford.edu