Blaire Harms - Defense Security Cooperation University

Faculty

Practice & Capability

Ms. Blaire Harms is a Senior Faculty member in the Regional Advising Division at the Institute for Security Governance (ISG), where she serves as a Regional Program Lead (RPL) in the INDO-PACOM area of operations for Institutional Capacity Building (ICB).  As the RPL for the countries of Oceania and Bangladesh she is responsible for ensuring the inclusion of ICB into Significant Security Cooperation Initiatives area of responsibility related to integrating ICB planning into country Security Cooperation planning.  ICB is an essential element to a partner nation reaching the desired capability outcome, it involves coordination with all stakeholders and good understanding of the partner nations capacity and will.  Ms. Harms also contributes to the ISG educational efforts in the area of Women, Peace and Security by leading mobile education teams and design/staffing of the resident Women, Leadership and National Defense course.  

Prior to joining ISG in 2014, she worked as a Liaison for mil-to-mil exercises in the Indo-Pacific region with emphasis on Japan, India, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Mongolia.

Ms. Harms was commissioned into the US Army from the California State University, Chico ROTC program, and she retired from the Army in 2012 after a 21-year career as an Army Military Intelligence and Strategic Plans and Policy officer. Her previous military assignments include multi-national military training and exercise planning for US Army Pacific, teaching Political Science and Comparative Politics at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and postings to the US Army Special Operations Command, the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea.

Ms. Harms has a Master’s Degree in Political Science from Rutgers University. Her dissertation work focused on the role of religious elites in democratizing societies. She was the 2005 California State University, Chico’s (CSUC) Behavioral and Social Sciences (BSS) Distinguished Alumni; served on the CSUC President's Advisory Board from 2006-2012; and is a founding member of the new CSUC Women’s Philanthropy Council (2020).  Ms. Harms currently lives in the Monterey California area. She has a son who is a US Army Infantry Lieutenant at the 82nd Airborne Division, Ft. Bragg, North Carolina, and a daughter who a third year Psychology student at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom.