Biography

Todd Harrison is the director of defense budget analysis and a senior fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS. He leads the Center’s efforts to provide in-depth, nonpartisan research and analysis of defense funding issues and provides expert analysis on space security issues. Mr. Harrison joined CSIS from the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, where he was a senior fellow for defense budget studies. He has authored publications on trends in the overall defense budget, defense acquisitions, military compensation, military readiness, the cost of nuclear forces, military space systems, and the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Mr. Harrison frequently contributes to print and broadcast media and has appeared on CNBC, CNN, NPR, Al Jazeera English, and Fox News. He has been a guest lecturer for organizations and teaches a class on the defense budget at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs and classes on military space systems and the defense budget at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. He is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was named one of the Defense News 100 Most Influential People in U.S. Defense.

Mr. Harrison previously worked at Booz Allen Hamilton where he consulted for the Air Force on satellite communications systems and supported a variety of other clients evaluating the performance of acquisition programs. Prior to Booz Allen, he worked for AeroAstro Inc. developing advanced space systems and technologies and as a management consultant at Diamond Cluster International.  Mr. Harrison served as a Captain in the U.S. Air Force Reserves from 1998 to 2003. He is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with both a B.S. and an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics.