Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute

Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute
186 Hampshire St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-547-4474
617-868-1267 fax

The Project on Defense Alternatives (PDA) is a not-for-profit policy research organization that seeks to adapt defense policy to the challenges and opportunities of the post-cold war era.

Carl Conetta, Co-Director

Areas of expertise: threat assessment, US defense policy and planning, military transformation and readiness issues.

Since co-founding PDA in 1991, Carl Conetta has authored or coauthored over thirty PDA reports and has published widely outside the Institute, including contributions to ten edited volumes. Mr. Conetta has appeared extensively before Congress, the executive branch and other governmental and nongovernmental institutions, and has been interviewed by a range of major media outlets. He has also has served as a consultant for the Council on Foreign Relations, the House Armed Services Committee, the South African Ministry of Defense, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Before joining PDA, Mr. Conetta was a Fellow at the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies (IDDS) and served as editor of the IDDS journal, Defense and Disarmament News, and associate editor of the Arms Control Reporter.

Charles Knight, Co-Director

Areas of expertise: national security strategy, readiness issues, and force structure.

Charles Knight is co-founder of the Project on Defense Alternatives at the Commonwealth Institute and is editor of the Defense Strategy Review Page. Mr. Knight was the founder in 1989 of the Ground Force Alternatives Project at the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies. Mr. Knight has authored numerous publications and has made presentations on security issues at many governmental and nongovernmental institutions. During the 1994-1996 period, he led PDA consultative work with the African National Congress and the new post-apartheid South African Ministry of Defense, focusing on stability-oriented security options for southern Africa.