Evelyn Farkas

Dr. Evelyn N. Farkas, Executive Director of the McCain Institute at Arizona State University, is a prominent national security expert, foreign policy analyst, and former government official. With over three decades of experience, she has held numerous influential positions in the U.S. government, including Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia during the Obama administration. In this role, she was a key figure in shaping U.S. policy towards Russia and its neighboring countries, especially in the wake of the Ukraine crisis and Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

In 2019-2020, she ran to represent New York’s 17th Congressional District in the House of Representatives. Prior to that, she was president of Farkas Global Strategies and a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Atlantic Council and national security contributor for NBC and MSNBC.

Before her tenure at the Department of Defense, Farkas served in various capacities that solidified her reputation as a seasoned expert in international relations and security. She was the Executive Director of the Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism, where she contributed to high-level strategies to mitigate global threats. Additionally, her work as a senior fellow at the American Security Project and as a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee provided her with a broad and deep understanding of defense policy and legislative processes.

From 1997-2001, Farkas was a professor of international relations at the U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College. She served in Bosnia for five months as a human rights officer for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe during 1996, and as an election supervisor in 1997. She speaks Hungarian and German and has studied French, Spanish, Serbo-Croatian, Russian and Hindi.

Farkas obtained her MA and PhD from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; the Board of Directors for the Project 2049 Institute; American Friends of the Munich Security Conference; Supporters of Civil Society in Russia; and previously served on the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Franklin & Marshall College, Leadership Council-Women in National Security, International Foundation for Electoral Systems and as a D.C. family court-appointed special advocate.