Project Staff

Clark Murdock, Director
Clark Murdock, a senior adviser at CSIS, specializes in strategic planning, defense policy, and national security affairs. He joined CSIS in January 2001 and subsequently coauthored (with Michele Flournoy) Revitalizing the U.S. Nuclear Deterrent (CSIS, 2002). He is the principal author of Improving the Practice of National Security Strategy: A New Approach for the Post-Cold War World (CSIS, 2004). And he is the lead investigator of a two-year study on U.S. Defense Department reform entitled Beyond Goldwater-Nichols: Defense Reform for a New Strategic Era (CSIS, 2004). He now leads the Project on Nuclear Issues, building a networked group of young professionals in the nuclear community. In 2000, Dr. Murdock was a visiting professor at the National War College, where he taught courses on military strategy, the national security process, and military innovation. From 1995 to 2000, he served as deputy director of the U.S. Air Force's headquarters planning function, where he helped define a coherent strategic vision for 2020 and institutionalize a new long-range planning process. Prior to joining the air force, Dr. Murdock headed the Policy Planning Staff in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; from 1987 to 1993, he served as the senior policy adviser to House Armed Services Committee (HASC) chairman Les Aspin; and prior to HASC, he was employed at the Central Intelligence Agency. He also taught political science for 10 years at the State University of New York at Buffalo, during which time he authored Defense Policy Formation: A Comparative Analysis of the McNamara Era (SUNY, 1974). Dr. Murdock is an honors graduate of Swarthmore College and holds a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
 
Mark Jansson, Project Coordinator
Mark Jansson is the project coordinator for the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) and is responsible for organizing PONI’s yearly conference series, running the Nuclear Scholars program, assembling and distributing PONI publications, and handling the project’s administrative functions. Prior to joining CSIS, Mark worked for a USAID contractor in Central America, where he helped analyze the societal and institutional impacts of rule of law reforms. He also has several years of experience in the nonprofit and public sectors as a grant writer, foundation liaison, and grant administrator. Mark is currently a conflict resolution M.A. candidate at Georgetown University, where his studies focus primarily on international security and politics.
 
Jessica Yeats, Research Assistant
Jessica Yeats is a research assistant for the CSIS International Security Program (ISP) and the program manager for the defense and national security team, where she works on a broad range of nuclear issues including nuclear proliferation, nuclear terrorism, and U.S. nuclear strategy and force modernization. Yeats was a coauthor of the 2008 report Nuclear Weapons in 21st Century U.S. National Security (2008), the product of a joint working group of AAAS, the American Physical Society, and CSIS. She delivered a briefing at U.S. Strategic Command on “Nuclear Forensics and the Future of the Weapons Laboratories” and was a contributing author to the CSIS Beyond Goldwater-Nichols report, Facilitating a Dialogue among Senior-Level DOD Officials on National Security Priorities (2008). She previously served as the interim project coordinator for the Project on Nuclear Issues (PONI) and supported the ISP Proliferation Prevention project as the recipient of the 2007–2008 William J. Taylor CSIS debate internship. Yeats holds a B.A. in economics from Idaho State University, where she ended her intercollegiate policy debate career as the second speaker at the 2007 National Debate Tournament (NDT).
 
Chris Jones, Research Assistant
Chris Jones is a research assistant for the defense and national security team in the International Security Program (ISP) at CSIS, where he works primarily on nuclear issues including nuclear strategy and policy, nuclear force posture, nuclear nonproliferation, and arms control. Jones is also a primary contributor to the PONI Debates the Issues blog. Prior to joining CSIS, Jones conducted honors thesis research on Chinese nonproliferation decision-making in the context of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and Missile Technology Control Regime. Jones was the recipient of the 2008-2009 William J. Taylor CSIS debate internship and graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California, where he also received a First Round At-Large bid to the 2008 National Debate Tournament.
 
John K. Warden, Research Intern
John K. Warden is a research intern working with the Project on Nuclear Issues and the Defense and National Security Group in the International Security Program (ISP).  He joined CSIS as a recipient of the 2009-2010 William J. Taylor CSIS debate internship.  Warden is one of the primary contributors to the PONI Debates the Issues blog and moderated PONI's De-Alerting Live Debate. Before joining the CSIS, Warden received his B.A. from Northwestern University, majoring in political science and history.  At Northwestern, he was a highly successful debater including winning the Copeland Award, which is awarded to the best two-person team throughout the season.
 
Andrew St. Denis, Research Intern
Andrew St. Denis is a research intern working with the Project on Nuclear Issues.  St. Denis received his B.A. from the University of Rochester majoring in political science.