Fred Iklé is a distinguished scholar at CSIS and currently engaged in studies about the impact of technology on national security and the prospects for democracy. He is a member of the Defense Policy Board, a governor of the Smith Richardson Foundation, a director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, and an advisory board member of the Center for Security Policy.

Prior to joining CSIS in 1988, Iklé was Undersecretary of Defense for Policy during the first and second Reagan administrations. In 1987, he co-chaired the bipartisan Commission on Integrated Long-Term Strategy, which published Discriminate Deterrence. From 1977 to 1978, he was chairman of the Republican National Committee’s Advisory Council on International Security and, from 1979 to 1980, coordinator of Governor Ronald Reagan’s foreign policy advisers. From 1973 to 1977, he served Presidents Nixon and Ford as director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. Since 1988, he has been chairman of CMC Energy Services. He served for nine years as a director of the National Endowment for Democracy, and in 1999-2000 served as commissioner on the National Commission on Terrorism. He was director and chairman of Telos Corporation and director of the advisory board of Zurich Financial Services. From 1964 to 1967, Iklé was a professor of political science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 
He has held positions with the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University, the RAND Corporation, and the Bureau of Applied Social Research at Columbia University. His many publications include Annihilation From Within (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), Every War Must End (Columbia University Press, 1970); and How Nations Negotiate (Harper & Row, 1964). In 1987, Iklé received the highest civilian award of the Department of Defense, the Distinguished Public Service Medal, and in 1988, he was awarded the Bronze Palm. He has published many articles in Foreign Affairs, Fortune, the National Interest, and op-eds in leading newspapers.