John Parachini (he, him, his) is a senior international and defense researcher, former director of the RAND Intelligence Policy Center, and a member of the Pardee RAND Graduate School faculty. His primary areas of research include intelligence, counterterrorism, weapons proliferation, and warning. He has led RAND projects on the history and future of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence; counter terrorism; Russian and Chinese conventional arms sales; North Korean decisionmaking; open-source Intelligence; and emerging technologies.
Parachini has testified before both houses of Congress and published articles on terrorism, weapons proliferation, and intelligence 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 served as executive director of the Washington office of the Monterey Institute of International Studies' Center for Nonproliferation Studies. Before that, he was a senior associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center, where he focused on nonproliferation and arms control issues. He also served in short assignments at the U.S. State Department.
Parachini has taught at Georgetown University, the University of Southern California 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 MBA from Georgetown University, and a B.A. in philosophy from Haverford College.
Selected Publications
Parachini, John V., Jennifer Bouey, Daniel M. Gerstein, Alison K. Hottes, Bradley Martin, Trupti Brahmbhatt, Katherine Grace Carman, Anita Chandra, K. Jack Riley, and Barbara Bicksler, Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Outbreak: Preventing and Managing Future Pandemics, RAND Corporation (PE-A1481-2), 2022
Parachini, John V., Rohan Kumar Gunaratna, Implications of the Pandemic for Terrorist Interest in Biological Weapons: Islamic State and al-Qaeda Pandemic Case Studies, RAND Corporation (RR-A612-1), 2022
Parachini, John V., Ryan Bauer, and Peter A. Wilson, Impact of the U.S. and Allied Sanction Regimes on Russian Arms Sales, RAND Corporation (RR-A1341-1), 2021
Parachini, John V., Scott W. Harold, Gian Gentile, Derek Grossman, Leah Heejin Kim, Logan Ma, Michael J. Mazarr, and Linda Robinson, North Korean Decisionmaking: Economic Opening, Conventional Deterrence Breakdown, and Nuclear Use, RAND Corporation (RR-A165-1), 2020
Weinbaum, Cortney, John V. Parachini, Richard S. Girven, Michael H. Decker, and Richard C. Baffa, Perspectives and Opportunities in Intelligence for U.S. Leaders, RAND Corporation (PE-287-OSD), 2018
Brian A. Jackson et al., Aptitude for Destruction, Vol. 2: Case Studies of Organizational Learning in Five Terrorist Groups, RAND Corporation (MG-331), 2005
Sara A. Daly et al., Aum Shinrikyo, Al Qaeda and the Kinshasa Reactor: Implications of Three Case Studies for Combating Nuclear Terrorism, RAND Corporation (DB-458), 2005
John Parachini et al., Diversion of Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons Expertise from the Former Soviet Union: Understanding an Evolving Problem, RAND Corporation (DB-457), 2005