Karin von Hippel served as Director General of RUSI for almost a decade after a distinguished career in the US State Department, which included a spell as Chief of Staff to General John Allen, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter-ISIL. A former senior research fellow at the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London and with direct experience in over two dozen conflict zones, Karin is recognised as one of the foremost thought-leaders on geopolitics, defence and security.