Center for Strategic and International Studies

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a nonprofit, bipartisan policy research organization founded in 1962 by Admiral Arleigh Burke and David Abshire at Georgetown University in Washington, DC. CSIS initially operated as part of Georgetown before becoming a fully independent 501(c)(3) organization in 1987. It is headquartered at 1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW, Washington, DC, and employs over 200 full-time staff members. CSIS produces research, analysis, and policy recommendations across five principal domains: defense and security, economic security and technology, global development, and geopolitics and foreign policy. The organization publishes reports, hosts events and executive education programs, and provides Congressional testimony and government briefings to shape U.S. and allied policy. The Wadhwani AI Center was launched on April 3, 2023, made possible by a $5 million commitment from CSIS Trustee Dr. Romesh Wadhwani, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur with over 50 years of experience in AI and software companies. The center is directed by Aalok Mehta, with Gregory C. Allen serving as Senior Adviser. Allen previously served as Director of Strategy and Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center. The center conducts research across three themes: AI governance and regulation, the geopolitics of advanced technology (including semiconductor export controls and U.S.-China AI competition), and AI autonomy and national security (including applications in the U.S. Department of Defense and intelligence community). The Strategic Technologies Program, a longer-standing initiative, addresses the social, economic, and security challenges created by emerging technologies, with a research agenda covering cybersecurity, digital governance frameworks, 5G and telecommunications, surveillance and privacy, and the role of technology in power and conflict. CSIS also operates the CSIS AI Council, an international body co-chaired by the CEOs of Accenture and Microsoft that works to translate AI principles into practice and accelerate regulatory interoperability. CSIS has addressed existential risk from AI in its research, including analysis of how to manage existential AI risk without undercutting innovation, debriefs on international AI safety summits, and proposals for Congressional safeguards such as mandatory Chief AI Safety Officers at large AI firms. The organization's annual revenue in fiscal year 2024 was approximately $59.8 million, with expenses of approximately $65.1 million, supported by a mix of corporate, foundation, government, and individual donors.