{{Short description|American nuclear reduction expert (born 1943)}} {{Infobox person | name = Susan Koch | image = Portrait of Dr. Susan J. Koch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Threat Reduction Policy.jpg | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1943|1|24}} | birth_place = Bridgeport, Connecticut | death_date = | death_place = | death_cause = | other_names = | known_for = US nuclear reduction expert | education = Mount Holyoke College and Harvard University | employer = | occupation = advisor | spouse = | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''Susan Jane Koch''' (born January 24, 1943)<ref name=nomination>{{cite press release |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/nomination-susan-j-koch-be-assistant-director-the-united-states-arms-control-and |title=Nomination of Susan J. Koch To Be an Assistant Director of the United States Arms Control and Disarmament Agency |date=January 17, 1990 |publisher=The American Presidency Project, UC Santa Barbara |access-date=2021-03-29}}</ref> is an American nuclear reduction expert. She has five medals from the Department of Defense, a Presidential Meritorious Executive Award and she was one of five people who were given inaugural Department of Defense Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Awards in 2016.
==Life== Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, Koch gained a B.A. degree in 1964 at Mount Holyoke College before she took an M.A. degree in 1968 and doctorate in 1971<ref name=nomination/> at Harvard University in Political Science.<ref name=klm>{{Cite web|url=https://nuclearsecurityworkinggroup.org/members/dr-susan-j-koch/|title=Dr. Susan J. Koch|website=The Nuclear Security Working Group|language=en|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref>
Koch first worked for the government at the Central Intelligence Agency where she looked at West European politics. In 1982 she took up senior positions in government which she held until 2007. She became an expert in arms reduction and non proliferation.<ref name=cia/>
In 2012 she wrote a report on the American nuclear initiatives in 1991-1992. This was a historic year as in September 1991 the American strategic bombers that had stood fuelled and crewed since 1957 stood down. Dick Cheney had signed an order that allowed the bombers to stand down from that state of readiness. They did not resume.<ref name=sept1991>{{Cite web|url=https://wmdcenter.ndu.edu/Publications/Publication-View/Article/627149/the-presidential-nuclear-initiatives-of-1991-1992/|title=The Presidential Nuclear Initiatives of 1991-1992|website=Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref>
[[File:Dr._Gloria_Duffy,_Ms._Laura_Holgate,_Dr._Susan_Koch,_and_Ms._Jane_Wales.jpg_.jpg|thumb|Secretary of Defense Ash Carter with 25th anniversary with four of the Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Award recipients Dr. Gloria Duffy, Laura Holgate, Dr. Susan Koch and Jane Wales in 2016]] [[File:Defense.gov News Susan Koch (cropped).jpg|alt=Dr. Susan Koch sitting at a table in a meeting room with a pen in her hand over a folder of papers. |thumb|Dr. Susan Koch participating in a meeting on strategic stability held at the Pentagon, June 20, 2001, aimed at resolving Russia's objections to the U.S. plan to develop defenses against a limited ballistic missile attack.]] In 2016 she was one of five people who were given inaugural Department of Defense Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Award in 2016. The others were Dr. Gloria Duffy, Laura Holgate, Jane Wales and Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall (not in photo).<ref name=walk/>
==Publication== * ''The Presidential Nuclear Initiatives of 1991-1992'' CSWMD Case Study Series 5, September 2012.<ref name=sept1991/> * ''Manage Proliferation Security Initiative: Origins and Evolution'' CSWMD Occasional Paper, No. 9, June 2012.<ref name=cia>{{Cite web|url=https://wmdcenter.ndu.edu/Media/Biographies/Bio-View/Article/637770/susan-j-koch/|title=Susan J. Koch > Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction > Bio View|website=wmdcenter.ndu.edu|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref>
==Awards== * Presidential Distinguished Executive Award<ref name=klm/> * Presidential Meritorious Executive Award * Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal (five times) * Department of Defense Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Award<ref name=walk>{{Cite web|url=https://www.war.gov/Multimedia/Photos/igphoto/2001535172/|title=Pentagon Walk|website=United States Department of Defense|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-06}}</ref> * Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Distinguished Honor Award * Department of State Meritorious Honor Award<ref name=klm/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Susan}} Category:1943 births Category:Living people Category:People from Bridgeport, Connecticut Category:Mount Holyoke College alumni Category:Harvard University alumni Category:American women political scientists Category:American political scientists Category:Analysts of the Central Intelligence Agency Category:George H. W. Bush administration personnel