Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese

Dr. Joan Johnson-Freese is a Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island. Previously, she was a Professor of National Security Studies at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, Hawaii, and the Air War College, and Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Space Policy & Law at the University of Central Florida.

Within the realm of international and national security studies, Dr. Johnson-Freese has focused her research and writing on space security issues, including technology transfer and export, missile defense, transparency, space and development, transformation, and globalization. Her book publications include: Heavenly Ambitions: Will America Dominate Space? from University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009; Space As A Strategic Asset (2007); The Chinese Space Program: A Mystery Within a Maze (1998); Space: The Dormant Frontier, Changing the Space Paradigm for the 21st Century (1997); The Prestige Trap: A Comparative Study of the US, European and Japanese Space Programs, with Roger Handberg (1994); Over the Pacific: Japanese Space Policy Into the 21st Century (1993); and Changing Patterns of International Cooperation in Space (1990).

Dr. Johnson-Freese has also published articles in such journals as Joint Forces Quarterly, Nature, Space Policy, Issues in Science & Technology and The Nonproliferation Review. She is a Fellow of the International Academy of Astronautics; a Visiting Fellow at the Watson Institute of International Affairs at Brown University; a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies; on the Space Studies Board of the National Research Council; the Editorial Board of China Security; and has testified before Congress on multiple occasions regarding space security and China. She also teaches courses on Globalization & Terrorism and Space & Security at Harvard Summer School.