Professor, International Security Program Manager, Director for the Center of Security Policy Studies
Contact Information
elaipson@gmu.edu
Phone: 703-993-4161
Mason Square, Van Metre Hall, Room 530
3351 Fairfax Drive
Arlington, VA 22201
MSN: 3B1
Biography
Ellen Laipson is the director of the Master's in International Security degree program and the Center for Security Policy Studies in the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University. She joined Mason after a distinguished 25-year career in government and as president and CEO of the Stimson Center (2002-15).
Laipson serves on a number of academic and other nongovernmental boards related to international security and diplomacy, and is a columnist for worldpoliticsreview.com. Her last post in government was vice chair of the National Intelligence Council (1997-2002). Laipson also served on the State Department's policy planning staff, the National Security Council staff, and the Congressional Research Service. A member of the Council on Foreign Relations, she serves on the Advisory Councils of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Georgetown University’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy.
Laipson served on the board of the Asia Foundation (2003-15) and the Council of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (2009-19). She was a member of the CIA External Advisory Panel from 2006-09, President Obama's Intelligence Advisory Board from 2009-13, and on the Secretary of State's Foreign Affairs Policy Board 2011-14.
She received a MA from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and an AB from Cornell University.