Kelly A. Grieco

Kelly A. Grieco is a Senior Fellow with the Reimagining US Grand Strategy Program at the Stimson Center, where her work focuses on US foreign policy and defense policy, addressing questions about military strategy, force structure, military alliances, air operations, and the future of war. 

She has expertise in U.S. military alliances and the security architectures of the Indo-Pacific and Europe, as well as current and emerging airpower strategies and capabilities, including air denial and drone warfare. She is also an Adjunct Professor in the Center for Security Studies at Georgetown University and a Nonresident Fellow at the Brute Krulak Center of the Marine Corps University. 

Her work has been published in Breaking DefenseDefense News, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Politics, Lawfare, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Parameters, Strategic Studies Quarterly, The Washington Quarterly, and War on the Rocks, among others. In 2024, she received the Christopher Coker Prize for best paper in the field of security studies for her co-authored article “Can Drones Coerce?” published in International Politics.  

Prior to joining the Stimson Center, Grieco was a Senior Fellow with the New American Engagement Initiative in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and an Assistant Professor at the Air Command and Staff College.

She has held fellowships from the MIT Center for International Studies, the Smith Richardson Foundation, and the Tobin Project, and participated in the German Marshall Fund’s Young Strategists Forum. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Projects
Many believe that permanent peacetime alliances provide both security and leverage for the United States — but are today’s alliances really fit for purpose?
Reassessing some of the foundational beliefs that guide US foreign policy
Exploring the changing character of war and its implications for US foreign and defense policy
Research & Writing

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38 North: News and Analysis on North Korea