Adm. Michael Mullen and Nathalie Tocci Join NTI’s Board of Directors; Amb. Laura Holgate to Serve as Vice President

Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen and Nathalie Tocci, Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali in Italy, have joined the Board of Directors of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), an organization working to prevent catastrophic attacks with weapons of mass destruction and disruption (WMDD)—nuclear, biological, radiological, chemical, and cyber.

In addition, Ambassador Laura S. H. Holgate, former U.S. Representative to the Vienna Office of the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency, has joined NTI as Vice President, Material Security and Minimization.

“We are delighted to welcome these new members to the NTI team,” said NTI CEO and Co-Chair Ernest J. Moniz. “Admiral Mullen brought bold and original thinking to his work as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and I’m confident he’ll do the same at NTI. Nathalie Tocci is an esteemed expert in security and defense policy and will add European perspective to NTI’s mission of building a safer world.”

“We are excited to welcome Laura back to NTI,” NTI Co-Chair and former Senator Sam Nunn added. “Laura’s deep knowledge and impressive experience in reducing global dangers make her a leading global expert on nuclear threats and preventing terrorism. I am particularly proud of her important roles in the groundbreaking Nuclear Security Summits, which made significant progress in securing nuclear materials globally.”

Mullen spent four years as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the top military advisor to Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He oversaw the end of the combat mission in Iraq and the development of a new military strategy for Afghanistan, while promoting international partnerships, new technologies and new counter-terrorism tactics culminating in the killing of Osama bin Laden. Since retiring from the Navy, Mullen has joined the boards of General Motors, Sprint and the Bloomberg Family Foundation. He teaches at the Woodrow Wilson School of International and Public Affairs at Princeton University.

Tocci is Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen, and Special Adviser to European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. As Special Adviser, she wrote the European Global Strategy and is now working on its implementation in the security and defense arenas. Previously, Tocci held research positions at the Centre for European Policy Studies in Brussels, the Transatlantic Academy in Washington and the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Florence.

Holgate, who served as NTI’s Vice President for Russia/New Independent States from 2001 to 2009, left government after serving as the U.S. Representative to the Vienna Office of the United Nations and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Before being named ambassador, she was the Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Weapons of Mass Destruction Terrorism and Threat Reduction at the National Security Council. In this role, she oversaw and coordinated the development of national policies and programs to reduce global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, among other duties.