Christopher Koeltzow

Christopher Koeltzow is a United States Air Force (USAF) military fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, he was a division chief at Headquarters USAF, Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations Directorate, where he oversaw USAF budgeting and programming for Electronic Warfare (EW). Chris has also commanded an EW Squadron in the Spectrum Warfare Wing at Eglin AFB. Under his leadership, the EW Squadron led the USAF’s effort on real-time rapid in-flight reprogramming of EW equipment. Chris is also an experienced political affairs strategist. While stationed in Germany, he was responsible for organizing inspection teams to support U.S. conventional weapons treaty compliance in Europe and central Asia. Chris regularly coordinated across the interagency to shape U.S. arms control policy with NATO HQ and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He personally led treaty inspection teams under diplomatic status to both Ukraine and Belarus. He also has experience in Foreign Military Sales as a military liaison while living in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for one year. Chris flew the F-15E Strike Eagle for over 11 years with worldwide deployments. Koeltzow earned a Master of Military Operational Art and Science from the Air Command and Staff College and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University. He is currently enrolled at the Defense Language Institute continuing his proficiency in German.