John Parachini (he/him) is a senior international and defense researcher at RAND, former director of the RAND Intelligence Policy Center, and a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty.
He recently served in the Office of Chemical and Biological Weapons Affairs at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability. His area of responsibility was Russia and Ukraine.
Parachini's primary areas of research at RAND include chemical and biological weapons proliferation and arms control, intelligence, counterterrorism, conventional arms trade, strategic warning, and implications of emerging technologies for warfight and intelligence. He has led RAND projects on chemical and biological weapons terrorism, pandemic response, intelligence, nuclear smuggling, conventional arms trade, North Korean decisionmaking, open-source Intelligence, and emerging technologies.
He has testified before both houses of Congress and has published articles in the Washington Quarterly, Arms Control Today, RAND Review, The Nonproliferation Review, Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Prism, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Newsday, USA Today, Asian Military Review, RealClearWorld, RealClearDefense, The Hill, and International Herald Tribune.
Previously, Parachini worked at the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies and the Henry L. Stimson Center.
Parachini has taught at Georgetown University, the University of Southern California's Washington Policy Center, and the City University of New York's Baruch College.
He earned an M.A. in international relations from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins University, an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in philosophy from Haverford College.