National Security
Michael NachtProfessor of Public Policy and former Aaron Wildavsky Dean at the Goldman School of Public Policy
Expertise:
U.S. national security and foreign policy, management strategies
for public organizations.
Contact:
Office phone: (510) 643-4038
E-mail: mnacht@berkeley.edu
Additional contacts:
Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations: (510) 643-5651
kmaclay@berkeley.edu
Roxanne Makasdjian, broadcast: (510) 642-6051, roxannem@berkeley.edu
Background:
Nacht has had three tours of government service and stepped
down in mid-2010 after serving as Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Global Strategic Affairs for more than a year.
He also
served a three-year term as a member of the U.S.
Department of Defense Threat Reduction Advisory Committee,
for which he chaired panels on counter terrorism and counter
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, reporting
to the deputy secretary of defense. He continues to consult
with Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore national laboratories
on national security and homeland defense.
From 1994-1997, Nacht was assistant director for Strategic and Eurasian Affairs at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, leading its work on nuclear arms reduction negotiations with Russia and initiating nuclear arms control talks with China. He participated in five summit meetings with President Clinton — four with Russian President Boris Yeltsin and one with Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
Nacht has testified before Congress on subjects ranging from arms control to the supply and demand for scientists in the workplace.
He has become a campus expert for the media throughout Northern and Southern California — and nationwide — on U.S. vulnerability after 9/11; nuclear arms and the war with Iraq; international relations and public policy, missile defense; the Bush Doctrine; assessment of U.S. presidents, and more. He is interviewed locally on KRON TV (Ch. 4) on most Monday mornings at 7:15 a.m. about national security, global affairs and foreign policy. He was interviewed on National Public Radio (NPR) about Iraq and the failure to find weapons of mass destruction there, on CNBC's "Power Lunch" show about the rebuilding of Iraq after the war, and on MSNBC, also about Iraq.
Nacht has conducted hundreds of media interviews since Sept. 11, 2001.
