Charles “Chuck” Kosak joined the Senior Executive Service in 2007 and excels at developing and leading high-performance national security teams confronting emerging cyber and physical threats affecting the nation. His expertise and experience span the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Defense (DOD), the National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA), as well as the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
He is presently the DOE Faculty Chair at the National Defense University’s College of International Security Affairs. In this role, he helps prepare U.S. and partner-nation national security professionals and future leaders to better understand emerging threats to peace and security and develop innovative approaches to strengthen U.S. and partner-nation capabilities and capacities.
He served previously at DOE as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Resilience, developing and executing policies and plans protecting the defense critical electric infrastructure that supports the nation’s essential missions and functions.
While at DOD, Mr. Kosak served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Continuity and Mission Assurance, developing and executing policies and plans protecting the nation’s in extremis continuity plans and programs, risk-managing domestic threats against warfighter missions, managing the Department’s global antiterrorism force protection policies, as well as providing niche capabilities in support of the FBI’s domestic counterterrorism program. Additional prior assignments included serving as a Principal Director in the offices of Partnership Strategy and African Affairs, Deputy Director of the NATO policy office, and Political Advisor to the Commanding General of V Corps, U.S. Army Europe.
Prior to Defense, Mr. Kosak served as the International Rescue Committee’s Head of Office and Field Officer (Mostar and Tuzla) in Bosnia & Hercegovina during the Balkans conflict. He also served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Zaire, Africa, where he learned to speak French and Swahili.
Mr. Kosak is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst with a double BA in Economics and Political Science, the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland with an MA in International Affairs, and the National War College in Washington, D.C. with an MS in National Security Studies.
He lives with his wife, Peggy, and son, Nicolas, in McLean, Virginia.