Michèle Flournoy

The Honorable Michèle Flournoy cofounded CNAS, a bipartisan think tank dedicated to developing strong, pragmatic, and principled national security policies in January 2007. She served as CNAS’s president until 2009, and returned as CEO in 2014. In 2017, she cofounded WestExec Advisors, a strategic advisory firm.

Previously, Flournoy was senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies for several years. Prior to that, she was a distinguished research professor at the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University. In the mid-1990s, she served as principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy and threat reduction and deputy assistant secretary of defense for strategy.

Flournoy is the recipient of numerous honors and awards including: the American Red Cross Exceptional Service Award in 2016; the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 1998, 2011, and 2012; the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award in 2000 and 2012; and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in 1996. She has edited several books and authored dozens of reports and articles on a broad range of defense and national security issues. Flournoy appears frequently in national and international media, including CNN’s State of the Union, ABC’s This Week, NBC’s Meet the Press, BBC News, NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and PBS’s News Hour, and is frequently quoted in top-tier newspapers.

Flournoy serves on the boards of Booz Allen Hamilton, Amida Technology Solutions, The Mission Continues, Spirit of America, and CARE. Flournoy is also a former member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, the CIA Director’s External Advisory Board, and the Defense Policy Board. She is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Aspen Strategy Group, and is a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

Flournoy earned a bachelor’s degree in social studies from Harvard University and a master’s degree in international relations from Balliol College, Oxford University, where she was a Newton-Tatum scholar.