Charles P. Blair
Deputy Director

Charles Blair is Deputy Director of the Center for Terrorism and Intelligence Studies. A specialist on radiological and nuclear weapons, Mr. Blair has focused primarily on the nexus between diverse non-state actors and so-called Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). He was born and raised in Los Alamos , New Mexico , and has consequently had a long and enduring interest in national security issues. As an exchange student in Moscow in the mid-1980s, Mr. Blair witnessed first hand the closing salvos of the Cold War and, since the end of that era, has worked on issues relating to the diffusion and diversification of WMD in the context of the rise of mass casualty terrorism incidents. His most recent publication examines the evolution of US nuclear doctrine since the end of the Cold War amid efforts to develop so-called “earth penetrating” nuclear weapons: “Visions of Fission: The Demise of Nuclear Negative Security Assurances on the Bush Administration's Pentomic Battlefield,” Nonproliferation Review 12:1 (March 2005) (with Jean P. du Preez).

In addition to attending university classes within the former Soviet Union, Mr. Blair has studied in India and France . He holds a B.A. in History from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an M.A. from the Monterey Institute of International Studies in International Policy Studies with a focus on the technical issues and policies surrounding WMD.

In 2002 Mr. Blair was the Center for Nonproliferation Studies' (CNS) representative at the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), where he assisted in efforts to secure fissile materials in the former Soviet Union . Subsequently, he was a Research Associate with CNS' WMD Terrorism Research Program where, among other things, he designed and implemented the Weapons of Mass Destruction Incident and Response Database (IRD) - a pioneering interactive WMD chronology prepared under the auspices of the Center for Disease Control (CDC). Prior to joining CETIS, Mr. Blair was an Investigative Researcher for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). Based out of the ADL's Seattle office, he was responsible for monitoring and investigating extremist activity in a six-state region. Consequently, his duties required research and interactions with a variety of domestic extremist groups, including components of the so-called “militia” movement; white supremacists; neo-Nazis; millenarian Christian Identity adherents; and radical environmental and ecological activists.