NEWPORT, R.I. – Dr. James M. Ludes, executive director of the American Security Project – a think-tank in Washington, D.C. – will serve as the third executive director of the Claiborne Pell Center for International Relations and Public Policy at Salve Regina University.
Ludes will be formally introduced to the Salve Regina community and the public during a media event to be scheduled sometime after his official start date in August. He succeeds Dr. P.H. Liotta, who has served as Pell Center director for the last seven years.
“We welcome Dr. Ludes as a scholar and administrator whose work and values correspond so well to those of Senator Pell and the Pell Center at Salve Regina,” said Salve Regina President Jane Gerety, RSM.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to work with Sister Jane and her great team at Salve Regina University,” Ludes said. “The university has been a special place to me and my family since I was a boy, and so coming here is like coming home. I am eager to get to work, to meet more of my new colleagues, the students, and the friends of the Pell Center—all of whom will be critical to our future success.”
Through his work with ASP, Ludes helped educate the public on a broad range of national security issues and the value of a principled approach to security.
He served as a member of President-elect Obama’s Transition Team from November 2008 to February 2009. As a member of the Agency Review Team, he worked inside the Department of Defense to identify critical issues that the new administration would need to confront.
In January, he took on the additional responsibility of running the confirmation team for DOD nominees selected for the roles of Deputy Secretary of Defense; Under Secretary of Defense for Policy; Comptroller; and General Counsel.
From 2002 to 2006, Ludes was legislative assistant to Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) for defense and foreign policy. During that time, he also coordinated defense policy issues for Sen. Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign – assisting in the development of policies on military end-strength, force structure, and improved benefits for military families and veterans.
Prior to his work in the Senate, Ludes was editor-in-chief of National Security Studies Quarterly (NSSQ), a defense and national security journal. During his tenure, he transformed the NSSQ from a student-run journal into a professional publication receiving considerable attention in the media and the policy community.
Ludes earned his Ph.D. in history from Georgetown University. His dissertation, A Consistency of Purpose: Political Warfare and the National Security Strategy of the Eisenhower Administration, was completed in 2003. He is editor of, and contributor to, Iraq Uncensored (2009) and co-editor of two previous books: Attacking Terrorism (2004) and Twenty-First Century Proliferation (2001).
He is a native of Manchester, Conn., and received his bachelor’s degree in history and modern languages from Providence College in 1993. He was a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Manfred Woerner Seminar participant in 2000.
The Pell Center was established at Salve Regina in 1996 to honor Pell’s distinguished 36-year tenure in the United States Senate. Throughout his career, Pell exemplified a commitment to diplomacy and peaceful conflict resolution in international affairs.