Senior Political Scientist; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
Irina A. Chindea is a senior political scientist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Irina leads and contributes research and analysis to projects and tasks across a wide range of national security topics such as counter-narcotics operations in the SOUTHCOM AOR; the activities and operations of transnational criminal groups and foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) (with a primary focus on Latin America); counter threat finance; strategic competition, and Chinese and Russian influence activities in Latin America, Europe, and the Arctic; security cooperation and security force assistance in INDOPACOM, SOUTHCOM, EUCOM, and NORTHCOM AORs; incorporation of emerging technologies into U.S. and allied force structures; U.S. defense industrial base and Department of War (DOW) acquisition processes; DOW foreign disclosure and technology release policies and processes; foreign military sales (FMS) process optimization and FMS case prioritization; European and Black Sea security.
Chindea has a Ph.D. in international relations and an M.A. in law and diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.
Ph.D. in international relations, Tufts University; M.A. in international relations, Tufts University; B.Sc. in business administration, ASE Bucharest, Romania
