Christine (Crissy) Gayagas - Defense Security Cooperation University

Faculty

Advising & Consulting

Dr. Christine (Crissy) Gayagas has served as an Indo-Pacific Regional Program Lead (RPL) for  Advising and Consulting (A&C) at the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) since September 2018. In this role, Dr. Gayagas builds and oversees teams focused on institutional capacity building (ICB) with partner nations throughout the region. She also represents ISG and presents in various international fora.

Prior to this role, Dr. Gayagas served as a visiting scholar at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS), and her dissertation focused on assessing and articulating the impact of DKI APCSS. She also facilitated seminars and supported workshops, such as the development of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy.

Following her military career where she last served as the Deputy Commander for a 21,000-service member Expeditionary Command in Iraq, Dr. Gayagas led private consulting firms and non-profits supporting Native Hawaiian organizations, renewable energy programs, and global development. Her work in security forces, community-building, and global studies have informed ICB approaches and advising partner nations in support of US objectives.

Dr. Gayagas hails from Hawaii and graduated with a Bachelor of Science from the US Military Academy. She also earned a Master's in Logistics Management and a Master's in Strategic Studies from the US Army War College, and a Doctorate of Education (Global) from the University of Southern California. She and her husband, Doug, have one daughter and three dogs.