Kristen R. Hajduk is the Director of Operations for National Security Innovation Network (NSIN). Kristen leads a nation-wide team that enables communities of innovators to solve national security challenges.
Prior to joining NSIN, Kristen served as a Senior Advisor for Special Operations and Unconventional Warfare and an adjunct fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where she provided technical oversight and guidance to U.S. Special Operations Command, advocated for Special Operations policies within the Department of Defense, the interagency, and the Legislature. She also served as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, advising on all issues relating to special operations, strategy, force development, and planning. Prior to this, she was the Special Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, consulting on executive management and strategic-level issues. During this time, Kristen served as the Co-Founder and Co-Director of No Exceptions, a successful advocacy initiative to open all military positions to women, removing the last legal professional barrier to women in the United States. Kristen spent the first five years of her career as a researcher, authoring over 20 reports on counterterrorism, nuclear verification, and homeland defense issues.
Kristen is a National Security Institute Fellow, a Center for New American Security Next Generation National Security Leader alum, a German Marshall Fund Fellow, and a Truman National Security Project Defense Council member. Kristen received her Master of Public Policy degree in National Security Policy from the University of Chicago. During this time, she interned for the Chicago Policy Review and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Kristen holds a Bachelor’s degree (Hons) with dual majors of International Relations and English Literature from Ohio Wesleyan University.