Delegation Biographies
(alphabetical order)
Melissa Dalton is a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow and
a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Her
research focuses on U.S. security cooperation reform and Middle East regional
security.
She joined CSIS from the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), where she served in
a number of positions in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
from 2007 to 2014. Most recently, she was the senior adviser for force planning,
providing analysis and policy recommendations for DoD's 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review report
and defense planning guidance. Previously, she served as the special assistant to the under secretary of
defense for policy, as a policy adviser to the commander of the International Security Assistance Force in
Kabul, Afghanistan, and as the country director for Lebanon and Syria. In 2012, she was a visiting fellow at
the Center for a New American Security.
Prior to her DoD service, she taught English to middle and high school students in Damascus, Syria, in
2006. From 2003 to 2005, she served as an intelligence analyst at the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Ms. Dalton is the author and co-author of a number of reports, book chapters, articles, and opinion
pieces. She holds a B.A. in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in international
relations and international economics from the Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced
International Studies.
Jacob Freedman is a Senior Director at Albright Stonebridge Group, where he
serves as a speechwriter and advisor to the firm’s Chairs and assists the firm’s
leadership and clients in planning and communications.
Jacob has been working for more than ten years at the intersection of national
security, politics, and communications. Prior to joining ASG, Jacob served as the
Chief Speechwriter for Secretaries of Defense Chuck Hagel and Leon Panetta. In
that capacity, Jacob managed a team of writers and researchers and was responsible
for all of the Secretary’s speeches, testimony, and press statements. As a member
of the Secretary’s public affairs team, he also helped formulate the Defense Department’s public
engagement strategy, played a role in crisis communications, and accompanied the Secretary on official visits
to nearly 40 countries. Jacob began his tenure at the Pentagon in June 2010 as a speechwriter to Secretary
of Defense Robert M. Gates, affording him the unique opportunity to work closely with three different
Secretaries of Defense.
Before he joined the Defense Department, Jacob worked at the Atlas Project, a political research
organization, and served on President Obama’s 2008 general election campaign as a data director in Virginia
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and Georgia. He began his career as a journalist working in Washington for Congressional Quarterly, where
he covered the financial services and economics beat.
Jacob graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in history, and earned a
master’s degree with distinction in International Relations and European Studies from Central European
University in Budapest, Hungary. In 2014 he was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for
Distinguished Public Service, the Pentagon’s highest civilian honor.
Alice Hunt Friend is an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American
Security. She is also a senior affiliate at CSIS and a PhD student at American
University’s School of International Service, where she performs research on U.S.
foreign policy, security studies and use of force decision-making.
From 2012 to 2014, she was the principal director for African Affairs in OSD
Policy where she focused primarily on Libya, Mali, South Sudan, and the Great
Lakes region. She joined the Department of Defense in 2009 as special assistant to
the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and also served as senior advisor to the
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans and Forces and country director for Pakistan.
She has held a research position the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. Her
international experience includes work with the International Labor Organization in Geneva and with the
Senegalese Association for Research, Study, and Aid to Development.
Ms. Friend is the author of numerous opinion pieces and book chapters, contributor to and editor for
several reports, and has appeared as a guest on C-SPAN and as a witness before the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. She holds a Master’s degree in International Relations from American University and
earned her Bachelor’s degree in Government from Smith College. She speaks French and Spanish.
Brian Harding is Director for East and Southeast Asia for the National Security
and International Policy team at Center for American Progress (CAP). In this role,
he is leading a major expansion of CAP’s work on the U.S.-Japan alliance and
regional engagement in Southeast Asia. He concurrently serves as a senior analyst
at Eurasia Group, where he advises major multinational corporations on political
risk in Asia.
From 2009 to 2013, he served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy) as
country director for Asian and Pacific security affairs, where he managed defense relations with key U.S.
partners in Southeast Asia and Oceania—including Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand—and
advised senior Department of Defense leadership on Asia-Pacific regional strategy. In this position, Harding
played an instrumental role in several high-profile defense policy initiatives, including agreements to station
U.S. Marines in Darwin, Australia, and littoral combat ships in Singapore.
Prior to working at the Department of Defense, Harding was a research associate at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies, where he focused on Southeast Asia and Japan. As a research associate, Harding
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helped build the first Southeast Asia policy program in the Washington, D.C. think-tank community and
managed several initiatives aimed at strengthening the U.S.-Japan alliance. Previously, he was a Fulbright
scholar in Indonesia, a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and a
research assistant at the Institute for National Strategic Studies. Harding holds an M.A. in Asian studies
from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University, a B.A. in history and
Japanese studies from Middlebury College, and has studied at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta,
Indonesia, and Doshisha University in Kyoto, Japan.
Reza Marashi joined the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) in 2010 as
the organization’s first Research Director. He came to NIAC after four years in
the Office of Iranian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. Prior to his tenure at
the State Department, he was an analyst at the Institute for National Strategic
Studies (INSS) covering China-Middle East issues, and a Tehran-based private
strategic consultant on Iranian political and economic risk. Marashi is frequently
consulted by Western governments on Iran-related matters. His articles have
appeared in The New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Atlantic, and The National
Interest, among other publications. He has been a guest contributor to CNN, NPR, the BBC, TIME
Magazine, The Washington Post, and the Financial Times, among other broadcast outlets.
Erin M. Simpson is the Chief Executive Officer of Caerus Associates. She
previously directed all of Caerus’ classified research and support to the defense and
intelligence communities. Dr. Simpson is a leading specialist in identifying data and
research requirements for complex environments. She has lectured extensively on
emerging technologies, data design, and the role of intelligence in irregular warfare
at the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU), Defense Intelligence Agency,
MIT’s Lincoln Labs, Google Ideas, Georgetown, and the University of
Pennsylvania.
Prior to joining Caerus, Dr. Simpson served as the Strategic Advisor to ISAF’s Counterinsurgency Advisory
and Assistance Team, where she regularly advised senior military commanders throughout Afghanistan on
issues related to campaign metrics, strategic assessments, local-defense forces, and illicit networks. Before
deploying to Afghanistan she served as an Assistant Professor of National Security Affairs at the US Marine
Command and Staff College in Quantico, VA.
Dr. Simpson holds a PhD in Political Science from Harvard University and a BA in Political Science and
International Studies from the University of Kansas.
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Ken Sofer is the Associate Director for National Security and International Policy
at the Center for American Progress, where his work focuses on U.S. policy in the
Middle East and the Asia-Pacific. In his three years at American Progress, Ken has
authored 35 public policy papers; organized senior delegations to China, the United
Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Israel; and conducted original field research on the civil
war in Syria. His work has been cited in The Washington Post, BBC World, Foreign
Policy, and Al Jazeera. Ken is a native of Hermosa Beach, California, and graduated
from the University of Southern California, where he studied political science and
international relations with a focus on U.S. foreign policy. He studied Arabic and Middle East politics in
both Cairo, Egypt, and Amman, Jordan. Ken previously completed internships at the U.S. Department of
State and the U.S. Embassy in Cyprus. Prior to joining American Progress, Ken worked on foreign affairs
and defense issues as an intern with Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA).
Ariella Viehe is a Senior Fellow for the National Security and International Policy
team at American Progress, on a one year fellowship from the U.S. Department of
State. She brings expertise in conflict and post-conflict stabilization and the Middle
East.
At the Department of State, she served in the Near East Affairs Bureau, Office of
Assistance Coordination, primarily responsible for coordinating U.S. assistance to
North Africa in 2013-2014. From 2009 to 2013, she served in the Office of the
Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan (SRAP) focused largely on Afghanistan issues including
development of and support to the Afghan National Security Forces, negotiations for the U.S.-Afghanistan
Security Defense and Cooperation Agreement and regional and international support to Afghanistan. She
was a 2009 Presidential Management Fellow, completing two rotations, first as the U.S. liaison to the
German SRAP in the German Foreign Ministry and second as Special Assistant for Pakistan to the Deputy
Secretary of State for Management and Resources.
Before joining the Department, Ms. Viehe worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as an Action
Officer on Iraq economic and reconstruction policy. From 2006-2007, she completed a Fulbright
Fellowship in Amman, Jordan, where she studied Arabic and, with other
Fulbrighters, launched the Global Youth Conference. Prior to Amman, she was a management consultant
with BearingPoint, Inc, supporting the company’s projects in Baghdad, Iraq and Washington, D.C.
Ms. Viehe holds an M.A. in strategic studies and international economics from the School of Advanced
International Studies (SAIS) at The Johns Hopkins University, a B.S. in international history and Arab
studies from Georgetown University, and has studied at the London School of Economics in the United
Kingdom.
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