Janne E. Nolan
Janne E. Nolan died 26 June 2019. Dr. Nolan was a noted Defense and foreign policy analyst. A national security scholar, author, Senate Armed Services staffer and advisor to Senators, presidential candidates and presidents, she was a pioneer and mentor to women in the national security field. In the early 1980s she was among the first women to assume a prominent role in a field entirely dominated by white men, not as the "token girl" but as a respected voice of wit and wisdom. Dr. Nolan a rare figure, equally at home in the groves of academe and the corridors of power. was Her book "Trappings of Power: Ballistic Missiles in the Third World", first published in 1991, was the first major work to explore the emerging missile threat from countries like Iran, Iraq and North Korea, a challenge that has dominated American planning in the following decades.
Her education included a BA in Political Science and Foreign Languages, Antioch College (1976), an MA in Law and Diplomacy, Fletcher School, Stanford University (fellowship, 1981-83), and a PhD in International Economics, Tufts University (1983). She was a Professor of International Security, Georgetown University (1990-2009), Professor: International Affairs, University of Pittsburgh (2005-10), and Professor: International Affairs, George Washington University (2011-2019). She chaired the Nuclear Security Working Group and was a faculty member at the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University.
Dr. Nolan’s public service includes positions as a technology trade and arms control specialist in the Department of State US Arms Control Agency (1980-83), Congressional Staff National Security Adviser, US Senate Armed Services Committee (1983-87), and as the defense advisor to several presidential campaigns and transition teams. She served as an appointed member to the White House Presidential Advisory Board on U.S. Arms and Technology Policy (Chair), the National Defense Panel, the State Department’s Accountability Review Board (investigating terror attacks against U.S. embassies in East Africa).
Nolan was a member of the National Defense Panel, a congressionally appointed group that provided yearlong review and oversight of the Pentagon's first Quadrennial Defense Review in l999, and, throughout the Clinton Administration, she served as a member of the Defense Policy Board, which provided advice to the Secretary of Defense. In l997, she was appointed by Congress to the Gates Panel to Assess the Ballistic Missile Threat to the US examining the ballistic missile threat to the United States.
The Nuclear Security Working Group [NSWG] was chaired by Dr. Janne Nolan of the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University. With membership drawn from a wide variety of professional backgrounds, the NSWG provides a forum for experts in different fields to share their perspectives and learn from one another. Through frequent dinner meetings and conferences, the NSWG enables the nation’s leading experts in international security and nuclear issues to share information and collaborate. The group conducts its activities in a not-for-attribution setting, enabling members and participants to freely express their thoughts and ideas.
By establishing a knowledge base of non-partisan foreign policy professionals, the NSWG serves as a resource for administration officials and members of Congress to utilize when real-time expertise is needed. Members of the group regularly meet with senior administration officials and members of both parties on Capitol Hill to help bridge the partisan divide and contribute to the formation and implementation of a nuclear security policy that serves the national interest of the United States.
Her private sector appointments included Professor of International Affairs and Deputy Director of the Ridgway Center at the University of Pittsburgh; Director and Research Professor at Georgetown University; Director of Foreign Policy for The Century Foundation of New York (1998-2001), and Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution (1986-98). Administrator: Dir., Intelligence and Strategic Surprise Project, Georgetown University (2003-10).
She received major research awards from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John T. and Catherine D. MacArthur Foundation (5 time recipient), the Ford Foundation, and the Ploughshares Foundation and served on the boards of the American Middle East Institute, the Arms Control Association, and the Monterey Institute’s Non Proliferation Review. Dr. Nolan was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Committee on International Security (second appointed term), the Aspen Strategy Group (Distinguished Emeritus), and the Cosmos Club.
Her nine books include "Guardians of the Arsenal: The Politics of Nuclear Strategy ; Trappings of Power: Ballistic Missiles in the Third World, An Elusive Consensus: Nuclear Weapons and American Security after the Cold War, Tyranny of Consensus: Discourse and Dissent in American National Security Policy, Cold combat: The memoir of a nuclear convert, and Two Triads: The Nuclear Equation. She also published numerous articles in publications such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Scientific American, The New York Times, The New Republic, the National Interest and The Washington Post.
Born in France on 28 December 1951, Janne is survived by a sister, Cathy, and a daughter, Emilie.
