Cindy Williams
Experience
Cindy Williams is a Principal Research Scientist of the Security Studies Program of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her work at MIT includes an examination of the processes by which the U.S. government plans for and allocates resources among the activities and programs related to national security and international affairs, a study of options for reform of military personnel policies, and an examination of the transition to all-volunteer forces in the militaries of several European countries. Formerly she was an Assistant Director of the Congressional Budget Office, where she led the National Security Division in studies of budgetary and policy choices related to defense and international security. Dr. Williams has served as a director and in other capacities at the MITRE Corporation in Bedford, Massachusetts; as a member of the Senior Executive Service in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon; and as a mathematician at RAND in Santa Monica, California. Her areas of specialization include the U.S. national security budget, military personnel policy, command and control of military forces, and conventional air and ground forces.
Dr. Williams holds a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Irvine. She has published in the areas of command and control and the defense budget, and she is the editor of two books: Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century (MIT Press 2001) and Filling the Ranks: Transforming the U.S. Military Personnel System (MIT Press, 2004). She is an elected fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and a member of the Naval Studies Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Institute of Strategic Studies. She serves on the advisory board of Women in International Security and on the editorial board of International Security.
April 2007
Service to Country: Personnel Policy and the Transformation of Western Militaries
Book
By Curtis Gilroy and Cindy Williams
"Extraordinarily useful....The changing demographics of affluent Western societies; the near 180-degree reversal in mission focus of Western militaries after the end of the Cold War; the particular difficulties of former Communist countries trying to shed one model of military manpower recruiting, management, and structuring for another—are all treated with length and with sophistication by both academics and practitioners." — Journal of Military History
Service to Country explores the ongoing transformation of military personnel policies in Europe and North America, looking at causes as well as potential costs and benefits of personnel policy transformation.
April, 2004
Filling the Ranks: Transforming the U.S. Military Personnel System
Book
The war in Iraq and the problematic military occupation of that country have called into question the adequacy of America's all-volunteer force. Politicians and others have expressed doubts about its equity and capability; some have called for the reinstatement of the draft. Yet over the past twenty years the all-volunteer military has become a technologically advanced force that has contributed to America's overall military advantage. This book analyzes current military pay and personnel policies and identifies changes needed to maintain and improve America's all-volunteer force.
January, 2001
Holding the Line: U.S. Defense Alternatives for the Early 21st Century
Book
Since the end of the Cold War, the US military has reduced its combat forces by 40 percent, closed about 20 percent of its bases, and withdrawn from many overseas posts. Even after these changes, the US military is by far the strongest in the world, with huge advantages in training, equipment, and technology. Despite cutting its annual spending by about 30 percent, the United States spends more than the countries with the six next-largest military budgets combined.
