Director of foreign policy & defence at the Centre for European Reform

Tomas Valasek is director of foreign policy & defence at the Centre for European Reform in London. He is also a co-founder and senior advisor to the Brussels office of the World Security Institute. He has served as head of the Security and Defence Policy Division at the Slovakian Ministry of Defence. Furthermore he advised, amongst others, the Ukrainian and Bosnian governments on NATO and EU integration. His academic career started at the University of Georgia where he obtained his BA in journalism, after which he acquired an MA in International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington DC. His research interests lie in transatlantic relations, common European foreign and security policy and defence industry issues. He has published extensively on these topics. He edited and co-authored The ‘Easternization’ of Europe’s Security Policy (2004) and has written numerous articles in highly regarded newspapers and journals including the Wall Street Journal and the Cambridge Review of International Affairs.