Heidi Urben
Dr. Heidi A. Urben is Professor of the Practice and Director of External Education and Outreach in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University and a retired U.S. Army colonel.
She is also a Senior Associate (Non-Resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Urben’s research interests include civil-military relations, public opinion, military and defense policy, and national security strategy.
A career military intelligence officer, Dr. Urben's previous positions in the U.S. Army include: commander of a military intelligence brigade at Fort Meade, Maryland; Vice Deputy Director of Current Analysis and Warning in the Joint Staff Directorate for Intelligence; Deputy Director for Intelligence in the Joint Staff’s National Military Command Center; commander of a military intelligence battalion in Hawaii; Assistant Professor of American Politics, Policy, and Strategy in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point; operations officer and executive officer for a counterintelligence battalion; Military Aide to Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates; and various staff positions in two light infantry divisions, including two combat deployments to Afghanistan and a peacekeeping deployment to Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Prior to assuming her current position in the Security Studies Program, Dr. Urben served as a Chamberlain Fellow at Howard University from 2021-2022.
Dr. Urben holds a B.A. in Government and International Studies from the University of Notre Dame, an M.P.M., M.A., and Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University, and a M.S. in National Security Strategy from the National War College.