August ’25 CGCI Newsletter – CGCI Insights

Andy Baker is a Managing Director at American Global Strategies, where he advises clients on national security, foreign policy, geopolitical strategy, and the implications of a rapidly changing international environment for business and investment decisions. Prior to joining American Global Strategies, Dr. Baker served in the second Trump administration as Deputy National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump and National Security Advisor to Vice President JD Vance. He is the only U.S. official to have served concurrently in both positions and was closely involved in the development and execution of U.S. national security and foreign policy, including the administration’s National Security Strategy and major diplomatic and security initiatives around the world. Before entering the White House, Dr. Baker served as National Security Advisor to then-Senator JD Vance beginning in 2023, advising him on foreign and national security policy in the Senate and during the 2024 presidential campaign. Earlier in his career, Dr. Baker spent more than a decade as a career Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Department of State. His assignments included service in Afghanistan and at NATO headquarters in Brussels, with work spanning diplomacy, strategy, and national security. Prior to joining the Foreign Service, Dr. Baker lectured at Oxford University and published Constructing a Post-war Order: The Rise of US Hegemony and the Origins of the Cold War, based on his doctoral research. Dr. Baker earned a bachelor’s degree in history from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy in international relations from the University of Oxford. He is proficient in Russian, Bulgarian, and Persian.

Dr Benedetta Berti

Dr Benedetta Berti is the Secretary General of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly since October 2025.

The Secretary General leads the Assembly’s Secretariat as senior executive officer and principal strategic advisor to the Assembly’s political leadership, with responsibility for the Assembly’s activities and policy work, as well as for representing the Assembly externally.

Dr Berti previously served as Director of Policy Planning in the Office of the Secretary General at NATO (2018-2025). She is Associate Researcher at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy at Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Visiting Professor at the College of Europe and a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.

An Eisenhower Global Fellow and a TED Senior Fellow, Dr Berti has, in the past decade, held research and teaching positions at West Point, The Institute for National Security Studies, and Tel Aviv University, among others.

Dr Berti is the author of four books, including Armed Political Organizations: from Conflict to Integration (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013). Her work and research have notably appeared, in Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, The National Interest, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times; as well as in Civil Wars, Democratization, Government & Opposition, Mediterranean Politics, The Middle East Journal, Parameters, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence.

She holds a BA in Oriental Studies from the University of Bologna, and an MA and PhD in International Relations from The Fletcher School (Tufts University). 

Dr. Stephen Tankel is a national security expert with 20 years of experience working across government, the uniformed military, academia, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector. He is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of U.S. Foreign Policy and Global Security at American University and a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, where he serves as the Principal Investigator for the Reimagining European Defense and Innovation Task Force. He is also the founder and president of Red Arrow Advisors, a strategic advisory firm that supports clients in the defense and homeland security domains.

Dr. Tankel has a long history of public service, including as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. Most recently, he served in an active-duty military capacity as the Director of Defense Policy and Strategy on the National Security Council staff. In this role, Dr. Tankel was the lead White House official responsible for defense industrial strategy, developing and leading efforts to address shortfalls in U.S. production, increase acquisition of innovative technologies, and forge an integrated defense industrial base (DIB) with allies and partners. He received the Defense Meritorious Service Medal for his. Dr. Tankel also served in a civilian capacity on two occasions in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy at the Department of Defense, at the State Department, where he coordinated foreign assistance for Ukraine following Russia’s full invasion, and on the House Foreign Affairs Committee majority staff.

Dr. Tankel’s research interests include U.S. defense policy and planning, defense industrial strategy and defense industrial cooperation, the use of force as an instrument of statecraft, and security cooperation and arms transfers policies. Dr. Tankel is the author of two books and has been published in a wide array of peer reviewed journals and popular outlets. He has also served in numerous editorial roles, including as a Senior Editor at War on the Rocks. Dr. Tankel received a PhD in War Studies from King's College London, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a BS from Cornell University.

Samuel C. Mahaney, Major General, U.S. Air Force (Ret.), is the Founding Director of the Strategic Policy and Armed Forces R&D Institute (SPARDI) at Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S&T), a Carnegie R1 research university at the center of America’s national security technology future. With 36 years of executive leadership in aerospace, defense, logistics, and technology, he is building public-private partnerships that advance innovation, strengthen secure supply chains, and accelerate the transition from research to commercialization and manufacturing. Currently, he leads national-scale efforts in nuclear energy, smart grids, critical materials, microelectronics, AI, drone tech, robotics, and advanced materials.

Mahaney is a combat pilot with over 5,150 hours of flight time. As former Chief of Staff for Air Mobility Command, Mahaney implemented secure data integration, operational resilience, and cyber-safe mission planning. In senior roles at CENTCOM and HQ Air Force, he shaped mobility, electronic warfare, and aerospace operations tied to the industrial base, optimizing processes and forging transformative partnerships like the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus program.

A Harvard National Security Fellow, Georgetown Capitol Hill Fellow, and Juris Doctor from Saint Louis University, Mahaney serves as Senior Fellow & Policy Advisor for The Alliance for American Leadership, Trustee at Missouri S&T, President of the Harvard Veterans Alumni Organization, and is a member of the board of the National Security Crossroads Alliance. He is a former law professor at the Georgetown University Law Center and currently teaches history, national security, Constitutional law, and leadership studies at Missouri S&T. He is a speaker on defense technology innovation, energy grid resilience, and workforce development, advocating for aligning research, investment, and education with U.S. technology and manufacturing strategy.

Andrew J. Grotto founded and co-directs the Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and Governance at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (CISAC), where he is also a William J. Perry International Security Fellow. He is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution. 
 
Grotto also serves as the faculty lead for the Cyber Policy and Security specialization within Stanford’s Ford Dorsey Master’s in International Policy Program. He teaches the core course for the specialization, Fundamentals of Cybersecurity and Policy, and also teaches a graduate seminar on Economic Statecraft. 
 
Grotto is President and CEO of Sagewood Global Strategies LLC, a technology policy and risk advisory firm. He sits on the Board of Directors for Slamfire Inc., the studio behind the AAA video game Back4Blood.
 
Before coming to Stanford in 2017, Grotto served in the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government. He served as the Senior Director for Cyber Policy on the National Security Council at the White House for two U.S. presidents. He was U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker’s Senior Advisor for Technology Policy, counseling the secretary on matters ranging from export controls and CFIUS reviews to cybersecurity policy. As a Professional Staff Member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, he led staff oversight of the budget and operations of the National Security Agency and U.S. Intelligence Community cyber operations and analysis, among other responsibilities. He began his career at a think tank in Washington,
DC researching nuclear weapons-related matters.

Grotto received his JD from the University of California at Berkeley School of Law, his MPA from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and his BA from the University of Kentucky.

Christos serves as an Associate Research Professor at the W. P. Carey School of Business and Research Affiliate at the Global Security Initiative (both in Arizona State University), an Associate Faculty at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, a Digital Fellow at the Digital Economy Lab in Stanford University, a Non-resident Fellow at the Institute for Religious Studies at Baylor University, Visiting Faculty at University of Nicosia, Senior Researcher at The Gallup Organization, a policy adviser, and an entrepreneur. He is the CEO/founder of Dainamic, a financial technology service provider working to democratize the use and application of data science and AI techniques for small and mid sized organizations, COO/co-founder of Living Opera, a classical music multimedia production company with an associated 501(c)3 Foundation, and CEO/Founder of CM Culture Management, a boutique artist management and cultural placemaking service provider.

Christos also serves as a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations. Christos previously served as a Senior Adviser on the National Artificial Intelligence Institute at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and on the White House Council of Economic Advisers managing the cybersecurity, technology, and space activities. He has also been an Adjunct Scholar at the Manhattan Institute, a Non-resident Fellow at the Cyber Security Project in the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, a Digital Fellow at the Initiative at the Digital Economy in the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Non-resident Research Scientist at Datacamp, a Visiting Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and an Adjunct Associate Research Scholar at the Chazen Institute in Columbia Business School. Christos’ primary academic research is in the intersection labor economics, the digital economy, and human flourishing, publishing over 120 articles in leading journals. He has also written over 300 stories in the popular press.

Christos earned a Bachelor’s in Economics and Minor in Mathematics at Arizona State University, as well as dual Masters and PhDs in Economics and Management Science & Engineering at Stanford University.

Christina Alfonso is a senior advisor to leaders across government and industry, specializing in national security, economic competitiveness, and emerging technology policy. As the Executive Director of the Council on Global Competition and Innovation (CGCI), she leads an initiative championed by the U.S. Department of War and private sector executives to advance resilient, market-driven security investments and foster strategic growth. As a Senior Advisor at DARPA, Christina prioritized developing public-private partnerships and advised on strategies to strengthen the U.S. defense innovation ecosystem.

Previously, as co-founder/CFO of Novata, a Microsoft and S&P-backed technology platform, Christina enhanced private market transparency through non-financial data reporting. As co-founder/CEO of Madeira Global (2012-2020), she pioneered values-based investment solutions for the private equity and credit sectors.

She is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School Senior Executives in National and International Security program. Christina holds an M.B.A. from ESADE Business School (Spain) and a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Fordham University. Christina is a trustee and treasurer of the RWJBH Monmouth Medical Center Foundation and has served on the advisory boards of the Milken Institute Young Leaders Circle, PathNorth, and the Women’s Society for the Economy and Society. She has extensive international experience, most recently in São Paulo, and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.