Cheston (Chet) Heldman is an assistant policy researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the RAND School of Public Policy focusing on strategic competition, global integration, simultaneity, and alliance dynamics. Geographically he primarily focuses on Trans-Atlantic (Arctic-Baltic and Eastern Mediterranean Littorals) and Indo-Pacific security issues.
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’s doctoral research centers on the policy challenges inherent in the formation of a U.S.-led coalition during the pressures and uncertainties of a rapidly evolving crisis and conflict in the Indo-Pacific. His research aims to create an analytic framework of the issue landscape to produce insights for policymakers and planners while tightening the connection between policymaking decisions and military considerations.
Heldman holds a B.A. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania, a M.Sc. in international politics from Trinity College Dublin, and has completed graduate work at the University of Oxford. For his master’s dissertation, Heldman developed a multifaceted framework for understanding alliance cohesion dynamics.
Education
M.Sc. in international politics, Trinity College Dublin; B.A. in international relations, University of Pennsylvania