Cheston (Chet) Heldman is a Pardee RAND Ph.D. candidate focusing on strategic competition, global integration, and alliance dynamics. Geographically he primarily focuses on Trans-Atlantic (Arctic-Baltic and Eastern Mediterranean Littorals) and Indo-Pacific security issues. He is also an assistant policy researcher at RAND.
His past professional experience includes working as an Action Officer with the Joint Staff J5 Operational War Plans focused on Global Integration issues and USEUCOM & USINDOPACOM planning and as a Tabletop Exercise developer for OUSD(P), Joint Staff J7, and the U.S. Interagency.
Heldman spent a term of his undergraduate studies at the University of Oxford, where he completed coursework and research on strengthening Euro-Atlantic Alliances to meet shifting political, economic, and defense pressures. His undergraduate thesis analyzed the effect of specific policy choices on the severity of the 2008 Great Recession and Eurozone Crisis and the pace of recovery across European states. For his master’s dissertation, Heldman developed a multifaceted framework for understanding alliance cohesion in the NATO context.
Heldman holds a B.A. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania and a M.Sc. in international politics from Trinity College Dublin.
Education
M.Sc. in international politics, Trinity College Dublin; B.A. in international relations, University of Pennsylvania