Christopher Dictus

Christopher Dictus is an Associate Political Scientist at the RAND Corporation where has contributed to projects on intelligence-policymaker relations, the future of military intelligence analysis, the security clearance process, and escalate-to-deescalate strategies. His is also a Lead Analyst at Bulletin Intelligence and served as a 2022–2023 Predoctoral Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security.

In 2023, Chris received his Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Virginia. He also holds a Master’s degree from the University of Chicago’s Committee on International Relations. His research interests center on the determinants of conflict decision-making. In particular, he uses text-as-data analysis and archival materials to study the role of intelligence communities in the foreign policy-making process. From 2020-2022, Chris was a predoctoral fellow with the University of Virginia’s National Security Policy Center, where he coauthored an oncoming book on electoral cycles and American foreign policy. In the spring of 2022, Chris was also an adjunct faculty member at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, where he co-taught a class on contemporary national security challenges.