March 20, 2026
The ICDS Is Reconvening Its International Advisory Board
The role of the International Advisory Board (IAB) is to provide strategic guidance and assistance to the ICDS in our efforts to conduct high-quality research and stimulate forward-looking debate on European and transatlantic security, defence, and foreign policy.
The ICDS pursues a mission to sharpen strategic thinking and develop forward-looking policy proposals in Estonia and among our allies and partners on European and transatlantic security and defence. The challenges that we currently face regarding our collective security and the global order underscore the need for intellectual insight and collaboration to shape impactful policy solutions.
By reconvening the IAB, we aim to introduce new ways to include the diverse perspectives of our friends and partners and strengthen the strategic direction and international outreach of the ICDS.
Members of the International Advisory Board
Marshall S Billingslea
Senior Fellow at Hudson Institute
Marshall S Billingslea is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he has led research on illicit finance, arms control, and national security since 2021. He currently serves as a key advisor on transatlantic security and counter-proliferation strategies.
Prior to joining Hudson, Mr Billingslea served as the Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control at the US Department of State (2020–21), holding the rank of Ambassador. Between 2017 and 2020, he was the Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing at the US Department of the Treasury. In 2018, he was elected President of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and co-chaired the global Counter-ISIS Finance Group.
His extensive career in public service includes serving as the Deputy Undersecretary of the Navy and as NATO’s Assistant Secretary-General for Defense Investment (2001–09). Earlier, he was the Senior Professional Staff Member for National Security Affairs on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (1995–2001). Between his government terms, he spent over eight years in the private sector.
Mr Billingslea has been honoured with the Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the Treasury Medal, and the Navy Distinguished Public Service Medal.
Camille Grand
Secretary General of ASD Europe
Since September 2025, Camille Grand has served as the Secretary General of ASD Europe (Aerospace, Security, and Defence Industries Association of Europe), representing the interests of over 3 000 companies in the sector. He remains a Senior Associate Fellow and Council Member at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) after serving as a Distinguished Policy Fellow (2022–25).
At ECFR, his research focused on European strategic autonomy and the long-term security implications of the war in Ukraine. Previously, he served as NATO Assistant Secretary General for Defence Investment (2016–22), overseeing capability delivery, missile defence, and technological cooperation. From 2008 to 2016, he was the Director of the Fondation Pour La Recherche Stratégique (FRS).
He has held senior roles in the French government, including Head of Disarmament at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Diplomatic Adviser to the Minister of Defence. He is an associate professor at the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po) and has lectured at the Ecole Nationale D’administration (ENA). His expertise covers NATO and EU defence policy, nuclear and missile defence, and defence technology.
Jarno Limnéll
Member of Parliament of Finland and Professor of Practice at Aalto University
Dr Jarno Limnéll is a Member of the Parliament of Finland (National Coalition Party) and a renowned expert in cybersecurity and strategic security studies. He currently serves as the Professor of Practice in Cyber Security at Aalto University and holds Adjunct Professor positions at the National Defence University, the University of Jyväskylä, and the University of Tampere.
First elected to the Parliament of Finland in 2023, Dr Limnéll is a prominent voice in national and European security legislation. He has served on the Defence Committee and the Transport and Communications Committee, where his work focuses on national resilience, hybrid threats, and digital sovereignty.
By education, Dr Limnéll is a Doctor of Military Science (National Defence University), holds a master’s degree in social sciences from the University of Helsinki, and is a graduate of the Military Academy. His extensive career spans military service as an officer, academic research, and executive leadership in the private sector, notably serving as the CEO of Tosibox Oy and previously as the Director of Cybersecurity at Stonesoft and McAfee.
Dr Limnéll has authored several books and numerous publications on cybersecurity and modern warfare. He is widely recognised for his ability to bridge the gap between technical cybersecurity, military strategy, and political decision-making.
Fredrik Löjdquist
Director of the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies
Fredrik Löjdquist is the Director of the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies (SCEEUS), an independent institute established and funded by the Swedish government. A former career diplomat, he has extensive experience in European security and eastern European affairs.
Between 2018 and 2021, he served as Sweden’s first Ambassador and Special Envoy for Countering Hybrid Threats. During this period, he represented Sweden in the OSCE Structured Dialogue on European Security and served on the steering board of the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki. His previous high-level missions include serving as Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2012 to 2017, and as Special Envoy and Ambassador for the Swedish Presidency of the EU in Georgia in 2009. His diplomatic career also included postings in Vilnius, Moscow, Tbilisi, and Vienna.
Mr Löjdquist holds a master’s degree in political theory from the London School of Economics. He pursued further studies in political science, Russian, eastern European/Soviet studies, philosophy, and rhetoric at Uppsala University, as well as within the PhD programme at Stockholm University’s Department of Political Science.
Oana Lungescu
Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute
Oana Lungescu is a Distinguished Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and a Senior Adviser at the European Policy Centre (EPC). As the longest serving NATO Spokesperson (2010–23) and the first woman to hold the post, she directed alliance communications during the most turbulent period in a generation, providing strategic advice to two Secretaries General. In recognition of her service, she was awarded the NATO Meritorious Service Medal in 2023. Born in Romania, she joined NATO after 25 years at the BBC World Service, where she covered the EU and NATO as a European correspondent based in Brussels and Berlin.
Claudia Major
Senior Vice President of the German Marshall Fund of the United States
Dr Claudia Major is the Senior Vice President at the German Marshall Fund (GMF), where she oversees the organisation’s transatlantic security and defence portfolio and serves as a member of the executive team. One of Europe’s leading defence experts, she previously served as the Director of the International Security Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin.
Her research and advisory work focus on German, European, and transatlantic security and defence policy, with a particular emphasis on NATO, nuclear deterrence, and the long-term security architecture of Europe following Russia’s war against Ukraine. Dr Major is a highly influential voice in the German security debate and has held positions at the Center for Security Studies at ETH Zurich, the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), and the EU Institute for Security Studies (Paris).
She serves on several high-level boards, including the Advisory Board of the German Federal Ministry of Defence on “Innere Führung” (since 2023). Her contributions have been recognised with numerous honours, including being named a Knight in the French National Order of Merit and receiving the Estonian Cross of Merit. In early 2026, she was awarded the Cross of Honour of the German Armed Forces in Gold (Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in Gold).
Dr Major holds a PhD from the University of Birmingham and degrees from Sciences Po Paris and the Free University of Berlin. Since 2006, she has also been a lecturer at Sciences Po Paris.
Luis Simón
Director of the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy
Prof Luis Simón is the Director of the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB). He concurrently serves as the Director of the Brussels Office of the Elcano Royal Institute, a Senior Associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a Visiting Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (European University Institute).
Prof Simón is currently leading a European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator project focused on US-China rivalry and its implications for Europe. His expertise spans international security, US foreign and defence policy, transatlantic relations, and Asian security. His research has been widely published in leading journals, including Security Studies, International Affairs, Journal of Strategic Studies, and Survival.
Previously, he was a postdoctoral FWO Fellow at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and a visiting fellow at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He holds a PhD in international relations from the University of London and a master’s degree from the Institut d’Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po).
Nathalie Tocci
Director of Istituto Affari Internazionali
Dr Nathalie Tocci is the Director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) and a Professor of Practice at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS Europe). She is also a Senior Fellow at Bocconi University’s Institute for European Policymaking, a part-time Professor at the School of Transnational Governance (European University Institute), and an Honorary Professor at the University of Tübingen.
Dr Tocci has served as a Special Advisor to EU High Representatives Federica Mogherini and Josep Borrell. In that capacity, she drafted the European Global Strategy and oversaw its implementation. She is a Europe’s Futures fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences (IWM) and serves as an independent non-executive director of the multi-utility company Acea.
Previously, she was the Pierre Keller Visiting Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to joining Acea, she served as an independent board member first of Edison and then of Eni. Dr Tocci has held research positions at the Centre for European Policy Studies (Brussels), the Transatlantic Academy (Washington), and the European University Institute (Florence), and has taught at the College of Europe (Bruges).
Rt Hon Tom Tugendhat MBE VR MP
Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute
Tom Tugendhat is a Member of Parliament for Tonbridge and a leading British voice on foreign policy and national security. He currently serves as a Distinguished Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, and is a member of the International Advisory Board at SDA Bocconi School of Management. Additionally, he holds advisory positions with organisations such as Fortify Rights and the tech firm Brox.ai, and serves as a Commissioner for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Mr Tugendhat served as the Minister of State for Security (Minister for Security) between September 2022 and July 2024, a role in which he attended Cabinet and chaired the Defending Democracy Taskforce. Prior to his ministerial appointment, he gained international recognition as the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee (2017–22), where he led influential inquiries into systemic challenges posed by state actors and global instability. He was first elected as an MP in 2015.
Before entering politics, Mr Tugendhat served on active military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also worked for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where he was instrumental in establishing the National Security Council of Afghanistan and the provincial government in Helmand Province. Upon returning to the UK, he served as the military assistant and principal adviser to the Chief of the Defence Staff. He remains an officer in the Army Reserve.
Mr Tugendhat studied Theology at the University of Bristol and holds a master’s degree in Islamic Studies from Cambridge University, which included intensive Arabic language programme in Yemen.
Andriy Zagorodnyuk
Distinguished Fellow at the Eurasia Center and Chairman at the Centre for Defence Strategies
Andriy Zagorodnyuk is a Distinguished Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center and a non-resident scholar in the Russia and Eurasia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is the co-founder and Chairman of the Centre for Defence Strategies, a security think tank based in Kyiv focused on security studies, policy research, and advocacy.
Mr Zagorodnyuk served as the Minister of Defence of Ukraine from 2019 to 2020. Prior to that appointment, he was an Adviser to the President of Ukraine for defence matters and as a member of the supervisory council of the state defence company Ukroboronprom. From 2015 to 2018, he headed the Reforms Project Office at the Ministry of Defence, where he played a key role as a major architect in designing Ukraine’s military reforms.
With over 20 years of experience in heavy industry and industrial engineering, he founded and served as chairman of the board of Discovery Drilling Equipment from 2005 to 2019. He is currently a member of the supervisory council of Aerorozvidka, a leading Ukrainian NGO focused on unmanned systems, and a member of the International Leadership Council of the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA).
He holds a degree in law from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a postgraduate diploma with distinction in financial strategy from the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford.
