Former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Ford Named MITRE Fellow

Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va., June 7, 2022—MITRE namedChristopher Ford, Ph.D., a MITRE Fellow, a select group of scientific, engineering, and policy experts who are preeminent in their fields and lead programs addressing national and global challenges. Ford will lead MITRE’s newCenter for Strategic Competition. The center leverages MITRE’s broad range of tools, skills, and talent to support U.S. competitive strategy in an increasingly challenging strategic environment.

“Today’s competitive strategy challenges are increasingly multi-faceted and complex, existing across domains, including military, innovation, and economic development,” said Charles Clancy, senior vice president, general manager, MITRE Labs, and chief futurist. “Chris’ deep expertise in and out of government will be crucial as he leads the Center for Strategic Competition forward.”

Ford previously served as a distinguished policy advisor at MITRE, after serving as U.S. assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation, also fulfilling the responsibilities of the undersecretary for arms control and international security. Prior to the State Department, he served as special assistant to the President and senior director for weapons of mass destruction and counterproliferation at the National Security Council.

A former intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve and senior staffer on five different Senate committees, he has also served as U.S. special representative for nuclear nonproliferation and as a principal deputy assistant secretary of state. Ford is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School, and a recipient of Oxford University’s Rhodes Scholarship.

MITRE Fellows have diverse and exceptional talent that enables us to deliver impact at a national scale. Their expertise spans a range of fields, including quantum, health policy, and aerospace. The MITRE Fellows program has a history of deeply impactful work to the nation and world, including the Global Positioning System and adaptive signal processing.

Media Contact:Jordan Graham,media@mitre.org