About
Alexei Hoffman is a Research Associate with the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), where he focuses on military aerospace, unmanned-systems policy, and adversary space capabilities. A first-generation American of Russian and Kazakh descent, he brings linguistic fluency in Russian and Mandarin to his analysis of how threat environments, acquisition priorities, and alliance structures shape the aerospace and defense landscape across Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific.
Alexei began his career as a Joint Fire Support Specialist in the United States Army's 10th Mountain Division, deploying to Afghanistan and conducting partner-force advisory missions in Kazakhstan, South Korea, and Japan. He went on to spend nearly a decade in national security and government matters law at King & Spalding LLP before returning to the defense sector; working across government, industry, and policy research at the Department of Defense (USCENTCOM), Collins Aerospace (RTX), and the Institute for the Study of War. In 2023, he volunteered as a defense training advisor with the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine.
He holds a Master of Asian Studies from Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service, a J.D. from Georgia State University College of Law, and an M.A. in International Politics and Military Affairs from The Citadel. His research has been published in the Georgetown Security Studies Review, the Yale Journal of International Affairs, and the U.S. Army's Military Review, among other outlets.
Beyond his published work, Alexei is an active participant in the broader defense, security, and policy community. He was named a Visiting Scholar with the International Security and Intelligence Programme at King's College London's Department of War Studies, a NextGen U.S.-ROK Leadership Fellow at the Wilson Center, and served as Senior Editor of the Georgetown Journal of Asian Affairs.