Beth Ellen Cole
Senior Program Officer, Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations
Balkans | Iraq | Afghanistan | Postconflict Reconstruction and Stabilization | Peacekeeping | Police and Constabulary Forces in Peace Operations | Civil–Military Relations | International Organizations | U.S. Defense and Foreign Policy
Phone: (202) 429-3806
E-mail: bcole@usip.org
Beth Cole is a senior program officer in the Center for Post-Conflict Peace and Stability Operations. She leads USIP’s Civilian Peacefare Initiative that began in 2007 with a multiyear project to produce comprehensive "doctrine" for civilians in stabilization and reconstruction missions. This includes work on other civilian capacity components such as building a civilian reserve, interagency planning and coordination, and training and education for civilians. Cole also co-chairs the Working Group on Civil-Military Relations in Non-Permissive Environments; an ongoing forum for the U.S. armed forces, U.S. government agencies and U.S. humanitarian assistance organizations. She serves as the lead for the USIP Afghanistan Security Project and is USIP’s official liaison to the U.S. Army Peacekeeping and Stability Operations Institute.
Among other posts, Cole was past director of the Congressional Roundtable on Post-Cold War Relations in the U.S. Congress and a senior fellow at George Mason University’s Program on Peacekeeping Policy. Cole was a coauthor of the recent RAND book, The Beginner’s Guide to Nation-Building, published in January 2007. She coauthored a number of USIP Special Reports including, "Transitional Governance: From Bullets to Ballots" (2006) and "Building Civilian Capacity for U.S. Stability Operations: The Rule of Law Component" (2004), and she coauthored the Peace Through Law Education Fund’s A Force for Peace and Security: U.S. and Allied Commanders Views of the Military’s Role in Peace Operations and the Impact of Terrorism on States in Conflict, (2002) and A Force for Peace: U.S. Commanders Views of the Military's Role in Peace Operations (1999). Cole also served in positions at the Congressional Research Service and the U.S. Department of State working on arms control treaty issues and was executive director of several non-governmental organizations, including the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and the Peace Through Law Education Fund.
Cole received a B.A. in political science and French from the University of Vermont and completed Kent State University’s program
on international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland.
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