Defense Institution Building Baseline Coordinator / CCMR Washington Liaison

Steven D. (Steve) Peterson is the Center for Civil-Military Relations (CCMR) Defense Institution Building (DIB) Baseline Project Coordinator and Washington liaison. Steve is coordinating the DIB Baseline Project, a joint effort between the Defense Institution Reform Initiative (DIRI) and Warsaw Initiative Fund (WIF) program to establish a common DIB framework. Steve is also responsible for responding to questions and requirements from DIB stakeholders in Washington and for program outreach to DIB-supporting organizations and potential subject matter experts.

Prior to joining CCMR, Steve supported the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for Policy in several positions. Most recently, as WIF Project Manager and Senior Analyst in the Partnership Strategy and Stability Operations office, he provided day-to-day oversight of the WIF program; had regular interaction with OSD regional desks, US Combatant Commands, and NATO; drove OSD efforts to develop the WIF DIB program; and helped launch the DIRI program.  Steve has also worked on security sector reform, cooperative threat reduction programs, budgetary reviews, program guidance, and legal authorities and legislative proposals.

Steven Peterson holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and a Master of Science in Defense and Strategic Studies from Missouri State University. While at Missouri State, he served as a graduate assistant and assisted Dr. C. Dale Walton in his development of Geopolitics and the Great Powers in the Twenty-first Century, published by Routledge in 2007.