Lt. Col. Karen Kwiatkowski, USAF (ret.), has an M.A. in government from Harvard and an M.S. in science management from the University of Alaska. Before her retirement from the U.S. Air Force, her final assignment was as a political-military affairs officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Under Secretariat for Policy, in the Sub-Saharan Africa and Near East and South Asia directorates. Lt. Col. Kwiatkowski also served on the staff of the Director of the National Security Agency.