Dr. John Hamre is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Before joining CSIS, he served as the 26th U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense. Prior to holding that post, he was the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller, 1993-1997). As Comptroller, Dr. Hamre was the Principal Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for the preparation, presentation, and execution of the defense budget and management improvement programs. In 2007, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates appointed Dr. Hamre to serve as Chairman of the Defense Policy Board, and he served in that capacity for four secretaries of defense. Before serving in the Department of Defense, Dr. Hamre worked for 10 years as a professional staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Dr. Hamre received his Ph.D. (1978), with distinction, from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University. He received his Bachelor of Arts (1972), with high distinction, from Augustana College, emphasizing Political Science and Economics. The following year he studied as a Rockefeller Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School.