Mr. Steven (Steve) Peterson is the acting Dean, International School of Education and Advising
at DSCU. He is also Director of the Institute for Security Governance (ISG) and has been active
in this role since ISG's establishment in April 2019. He also served as the Director of ISG's
predecessor organization (the Center for Civil-Military Relations - CCMR) beginning in March
2018. As Director, Mr. Peterson oversees ISG faculty and staff; plans and directs advisory,
education, and development programs to support the mission of ISG and its core stakeholders;
oversees the design and development of ISG's approach, methodology and curricula; monitors
and evaluates program outcomes; drives research and publication; and teaches associated
courses. He provides professional, theoretical, and applied advice and consultation to US
Department of Defense (DoD) and US Department of State personnel on institutional capacity
building (ICB) and governance, civil-military relations, security sector reform, security
cooperation, and related topics.
Prior to becoming Director, ISG, Mr. Peterson was the program lead for CCMR's ICB programs
(previously known as the Defense Governance and Management Team - DGMT). In this role, he
led DGMT policy and programming development and monitoring, managed the DGMT
leadership team to ensure ICB project and activity execution, and provided advice and expertise
to US Government /DoD leadership and stakeholders on ICB and related issues. Mr. Peterson
became a member of the CCMR faculty team in 2010.
Before joining CCMR, Mr. Peterson supported the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) for
Policy in the Eurasia and Partnership Strategy and Stability Operations offices. As Warsaw
Initiative Fund Project Coordinator and Senior Analyst, he provided day-to-day oversight of the
program, coordinated with and responded to OSD regional desks, US Combatant Commands,
and NATO, and he helped drive OSD efforts to develop its global ICB programs. Mr. Peterson
has also been a part of security sector reform and defense analysis teams, managed cooperative
threat reduction programs, and led program guidance, budgetary, and legal authority reviews.
Prior to supporting OSD Policy, Mr. Peterson worked in electoral politics as a professional
Congressional campaign manager and staffer.
Mr. Peterson holds a BA in Political Science from Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and
an MS in Defense and Strategic Studies from Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.