Ph.D. in political science, George Washington University; M.A. in security policy studies, George Washington University; B.A. in political science, Washington State University
Alexis A. Blanc is a political scientist at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. She specializes in a diverse set of national security issues: nuclear deterrence dynamics and strategic stability, nuclear force posture, long-range strike, and crisis stability and escalation management strategies. She also has expertise in the space domain, examining many of these same issues as well as mission assurance for nuclear command and control and supply chain security.
Prior to RAND, she was a senior federal program manager at the Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration for nine years, managing two Line Item construction projects for the Office of Advanced Simulation and Computing. She has also completed multiple special projects for the NNSA Administrator's Policy Office, working on nuclear weapons policy, posture, and supply chain security.
Before that, she worked at the Department of Defense as a special assistant to the principal deputy to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical and Biological Defense Programs. There she supported the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review effort as part of the Stockpile and Infrastructure Working Group, the ratification process for the New START Agreement, and the joint DoD-DOE effort to modernize the nuclear security enterprise.
Blanc has a Ph.D. in political science from The George Washington University focusing on international relations and public policy. Her dissertation focused on conventionally armed ballistic missiles, conflict initiation, employment strategies, and conflict outcomes.
