WASHINGTON, DC – The Project on National Security Reform is pleased to announce Chuck Lutes, a recently retired Air Force Colonel, has joined the PNSR as a Senior Advisor. Until retirement, Colonel Lutes served as the Director for Nonproliferation on President Obama’s National Security Staff at the White House, and previously as Director for Counterproliferation Strategy on President George W. Bush’s National Security Council staff.

“My twenty-eight year military career took me from the flight line to the White House, and has convinced me of the need for reform at every level of our national security system,” said Colonel Lutes. “We owe it to our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen and to the American taxpayer to transform our government to make it more flexible and agile to meet the security threats of the 21st century. I am pleased to be part of that effort through PNSR.”

“Chuck brings with him recent insight from the highest levels of U.S. policymaking, deep knowledge of national security issues from space to nuclear weapons, and education in organizational analysis,” said PNSR President and CEO James R. Locher III. “Chuck’s experience makes him a perfect fit for PNSR. We are thrilled to have him with us.”

Chuck Lutes is also an Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University and a Senior Analyst with The Tauri Group, an innovator in analytical consulting that applies creative, responsive problem-solving to homeland security, defense, and space enterprises.

While on active duty as an Air Force Colonel Lutes also served as a Senior Military Fellow at INSS, and in the Directorate for Plans, Policy and Strategy (J5) on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff as Chief of the Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Division, Chief of Strategic Plans, and Chief of Engagement Strategy.

Chuck Lutes holds engineering degrees from Duke University and the Air Force Institute of Technology, and has completed doctoral coursework in Human and Organizational Learning through the Executive Leadership Program at The George Washington University. He was also a National Security Fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.