Heritage Foundation Leadership for America

view all papers by Alane Kochems

summary:
Alane Kochems researches national defense and homeland security at The Heritage Foundation’s Shelby and Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies. Her expertise on defense matters include military transformation, strategy, the Quadrennial Defense Review, and the military industrial base. Her homeland security writings focus on issues regarding the nexus between security and civil liberties as well as information sharing, critical infrastructure protection, and science and law in support of national security.

Currently, she coordinates Heritage Foundation working groups on security-related technologies, maritime and trade security, and the role of the federal government in responding to catastrophic events. The Heritage working groups bring together nationally-recognized experts from government, the private sector, and academe to analyze prominent contemporary challenges to making the nation more secure, promoting economic growth, and protecting the civil liberties of American citizens.

Ms. Kochems was a principal contributor to DHS 2.0: Rethinking the Department of Homeland Security, a major report by The Heritage Foundation and the Center for Strategic and International Studies that recommended a major reorganization of the newly created agency.

In addition to numerous Heritage publications she has appeared on television and radio and her editorials have appeared in newspapers across the country.

Ms. Kochems has also contributed to books on critical infrastructure and terrorism. She is also a guest lecturer on national security issues and has spoken to a wide range of groups.

Before coming to Heritage, Ms. Kochems researched a wide range of national security topics at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, a Washington policy institute dedicated to defense issues.

Ms. Kochems received her JD from American University in Washington, DC. She graduated from the Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC, with an M.S. in Library Science. She received a  B.A. in international relations with a concentration in national security from The George Washington University, Washington, DC.