Leo Michel is a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (National Defense University), concentrating on transatlantic defense and security issues. Before joining INSS in August 2002, Mr. Michel served over 17 years in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. His positions included: Director for NATO Policy; Director for Non-Nuclear Arms Control; Deputy U.S. Representative to the U.S.-Russia Bilateral Consultative Commission; and Deputy Director, Verification Policy. During 1996-99, he was appointed as the first U.S. Defense Department Representative at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.
Before joining the Department of Defense, Mr. Michel worked in the Directorate for Intelligence in the Central Intelligence Agency, as a legislative aide on national security for a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and as a reporter for French media. He was a U.S. Navy officer during 1969-1972, serving aboard the attack aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy.
Mr. Michel was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in 2000. He holds a Master’s degree from Johns Hopkins School for Advanced International Studies and a Bachelor’s degree from Princeton University.
In addition to his INSS publications, Mr. Michel’s commentaries have appeared in a variety of papers and journals, including Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, Defense News, Le Monde, Le Soir, International Politik, European Voice, La Comunità Internazionale, Eurofuture, Revue Défense Nationale, La Revue internationale et stratégique, Politique américaine, Atlantisch Perspectief, Spiegel Online, and Doctrine.
