Dr. Roger Kangas is a Senior Fellow for Security Studies and a member of the Executive Board at the Caspian Policy Center, USA. His research and teaching focus on security, geopolitics, and political developments in Central Asia, the Caspian region, and Afghanistan. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Foreign Service in Comparative Politics from Georgetown University's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and a PhD in Political Science from Indiana University.

Dr. Kangas retired from U.S. government service in April 2026 after a distinguished 27-year career. His last appointment was as Academic Dean of the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA), U.S. Department of Defense, in Washington, D.C., a position he held for fifteen years. Prior to this, he served as Professor of Central Asian Studies at the NESA Center and at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.

His earlier academic and research appointments include Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), the Open Media Research Institute (OMRI), the University of Mississippi, and Indiana University. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University and a Research Fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Dr. Kangas's association with the GPS Forum as a Global Senior Fellow adds value to the Forum's efforts to promote informed, balanced, and forward-looking dialogue on global and regional matters.