Dr. Walter L. Christman

President and CEO
Global Strategic Analysis, LLC



Walter L. Christman is a pioneer in the global adoption of new cooperative ventures in international collaboration to enable enhanced regional and global security. He is the principal architect of seven Secretary of Defense initiatives, three of which were endorsed by a President of the United States.

Dr. Christman is President of Global Strategic Analysis, LLC, a forward-thinking professional services firm headquartered in San Luis Obispo, California offering confidential analytic support and creative services to world-wide clients who seek to foster innovative solutions for a secure and sustainable world. Its subsidiary, the LEADS Institute (Leadership Education and Analysis for Development and Security) promotes innovative learning and leader development.

Dr. Christman is well established in promoting enhanced US-China relations. He is also President of the Burlingame Foundation is an IRS approved 501 C-3 non-profit corporation established in California. It commemorates the life and work of 19th Century statesmen Anson Burlingame as a means of fostering a collaborative network of educational institutions between the United States, China and other nations throughout the world to inspire mutual trust, respect and collaboration in addressing the challenges of the 21st Century.

Dr. Christman is Chairman, Co-Founder and CEO of the Global Challenges Forum Foundation in Geneva, Switzerland, an organization of think tanks, research centers, and academic institutions contributing to the much-needed resolution of existing and future global security challenges. He guides its work through offices in: Geneva, Switzerland; Amman, Jordan; Bangalore, India; and San Luis Obispo, California. He recently launched the Global Knowledge Networking Initiative in collaboration with the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) to foster innovation in next-generation leadership development.

Dr. Christman’s thirty-year career with the US Government spanned service in the Armed Forces, the US Congress, the Pentagon, the State Department, and the White House, with travel to more than fifty countries, and more than ten years of service as a US diplomat in the international community of Geneva, Switzerland. His academic career includes service as Associate Professor of Global Public Policy with the Naval Postgraduate School; Visiting Distinguished Research Fellow at the National Defense University; Adjunct Faculty of the Joint Special Operations University; Affiliated Faculty of the C4I and Cyber Center at George Mason University; Senior Fellow at Middlebury Institute of International Studies; and Visiting Scholar at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.

Dr. Christman has overseen strategic collaboration efforts in support of the Office of the Secretary Defense and the U.S. Joint Forces Command in collaboration with the United Nations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and through bilateral agreements with Partner nations in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He was principal architect and negotiator for multiple Secretary of Defense MOUs with foreign partners. He was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service for his leadership in conceiving and establishing the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch, Germany. He was also principal architect of NATO’s Partnership Training policies.

Dr. Christman holds a PhD in International Relations from the University of Geneva, a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard University, a Masters in International Affairs from Columbia University, and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University. Prior to university, he served for four years on active duty in the US Army Special Forces on an A-Team trained in the delivery of man-portable nuclear weapons. He is Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces qualified, and awarded a medal for heroism for risking his life to save others during peacetime training incident. He was later a Commissioned Officer in the Army Reserve and is the 2017 Inductee into the Army ROTC Hall of Fame from Duke University.

His professional associations have included the Council on Foreign Relations, Trustee of the Marshall Foundation, the Editorial Board of the journal, “European Security,” and has a forthcoming book entitled “Global Resilience Networking.”

Publications and Awards


瓦尔特•克里斯曼博士

瓦尔特•克里斯曼博士是全球采用新的战略伙伴关系的先驱,以加强国与国之间的合作。他是七位国防部长倡议的首席构建官,其中三位得到美国总统的赞同。 瓦尔特•克里斯曼博士是瑞士日内瓦全球挑战论坛基金会

(www.GlobalChallengesForum.org)的主席兼首席执行官,一个由智囊团,研究中心和学术机构组成的组织,致力于解决现有和未来的全球安全性 挑战 。他通过位于瑞士日内瓦; 约旦安曼; 印度班加罗尔 和加利福尼亚州圣路易斯奥比斯波的办事机构指导工作。 通过这些机构,他与联合国训练研究所(UNITAR)合作推出了全球知识网络计划,以促进下一代领导阶层发展的创新。

瓦尔特•克里斯曼博士是中国-加州企业发展集团(www.China-California.com)主席,致力于通过加州州长杰里·布朗(Jerry Brown)与中国协议建立的创新商业伙伴关系。 他是全球战略分析有限责任公司(www.GlobalStrategicAnalysis.com)总裁,总部位于加利福尼亚州圣路易斯奥比斯波,为全球寻求创新解决方案 以确保持续发展的客户提供保密分析支持和创意服务。

瓦尔特•克里斯曼博士三十多年的美国政府职业生涯包括在武装部队,美国国会,五角大楼,国务院和白宫等机构的任职,任期内曾前往五十多个国家,其中包括担任瑞士日内瓦国际社会美国外交官十余年。 他的学术生涯包括担任美国海军研究生院全球公共政策副教授,美国国防大学杰出访问学者,上海交通大学国际与公共事务学院访问学者。

瓦尔特•克里斯曼博士与联合国,北大西洋公约组织以及通过与欧洲,中东和亚洲的合作伙伴国家签署的双边协议,共同监督了美国国防部的战略协作工作。 他是多名国防部长与外国合作伙伴的协议的首席建筑师和谈判代表。 他被授予国防勋章,以纪念和建立德国加米施的乔治·马歇尔(George C.Marshall)欧洲安全研究中心。