Dr. Patrick M. Cronin
Director of Institute for National Strategic Studies

The Honorable Dr. Patrick M. Cronin was appointed as Director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) in December 2007. INSS was established by the Secretary of Defense in 1984 to provide strategic insights for senior Department of Defense officials and decision-makers. Dr. Cronin has had a 25-year career inside government and academic research centers, spanning defense affairs, foreign policy, and development assistance.

Dr. Cronin returns to his home in Washington, D.C., after serving more than two years at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), where he was the Director of Studies, Editor of the Adelphi Papers, and Executive Director of the Armed Conflict Database. Prior to joining IISS, Dr. Cronin was Director of Research and Senior Vice President at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, D.C.

In 2001, Dr. Cronin was confirmed by the Senate to the third-ranking position at the U.S. Agency for International Development. While serving as Assistant Administrator for Policy and Program Coordination, Dr. Cronin led agency, interagency, and international policy deliberations, as well as the interagency task force that helped design the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). From 1998 until 2001, Dr. Cronin served as Director of Research at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

Dr. Cronin spent seven years at the National Defense University, arriving at INSS in 1990 as a Senior Research Professor covering Asian and long-range security issues. He was the founding Executive Editor of Joint Force Quarterly, and subsequently became both Deputy Director and Director of Research at the Institute. He received the Army's Meritorious Civilian Service Award upon his departure from NDU in 1997.

Dr. Cronin has been a senior analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. Naval Reserve Intelligence officer, and an analyst with the Congressional Research Service and SRI International. He was Associate Editor of Strategic Review; and while, an undergraduate, worked for the Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale News.

Dr. Cronin has taught at several universities. He was an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, The Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the University of Virginia’s Woodrow Wilson Department of Government.

Dr. Cronin read International Relations at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, where he received both his M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees. He graduated with high honors from the University of Florida where he was awarded the outstanding graduate award from the College of Journalism and Communications.