Michael Elleman is presently leading
a research project focused on a Joint NATO-Russian Assessment of the Iranian
Ballistic Missile programme. Beginning in February 2010, he begin a Cooperative
Missile Defence project, working with experts from the United States, Europe
and Russia aimed at identifying technical, political and diplomatic avenues for
joint missile defence activities. Before joining the IISS, he spent five years
at Booz Allen Hamilton, a US
consulting firm, where he supported the implementation of Cooperative Threat
Reduction programs sponsored by the US Department of Defense and the Department
of Energy. He also provided weapons proliferation analyses to the Advanced
Systems and Concepts Office (ASCO) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency
(DTRA). Previously, he spent 18 months at UNMOVIC as a missile expert for
weapons inspection missions in Iraq.
Prior to joining the UN, he spent two decades as a scientist as Lockheed
Martin's Research and Development Laboratory, where his activities focused on
solid propellants, weapons elimination technologies, nuclear effects and
special materials research. He is a graduate of physics from the University of California,
Berkeley.