Masao Dahlgren
I'm a fellow at CSIS. I often write
about space,
missile defense,
and defense acquisition,
especially when it involves modeling and simulation.
I also publish takes on
startups
and conventional
deterrence.
In my spare time, I like collecting
rare books,
CAD, shooting
film, cooking, and talking to engineers.
If you have an interesting problem, don't hesitate to reach out:
Twitter |
LinkedIn |
Email |
GitHub
Here's a partial list of my speaking engagements, publications, and media appearances:
Speaking
- "AI Diffusion and Defense Production," panel (Divyansh Kaushik, Keegan McBride, Glenn Parham), CSIS, April 2025
- "Tracking Hypersonic Missiles," webinar (Reggie Brothers, Chad Fish, David Ariosto), SpaceNews, March 2025
- "Missile Tracking Policy and Design Choices," presentation, NNSA Office of Stockpile Production and Integration, July 2024
- "Advancing Multi Orbital Sensing for Hypersonic Missile Defense," panel (Alexander Rasmussen, Gary Goff, Michael McNabb, Kari Bingen), Hypersonic Innovation Symposium, May 2024
- "Hypersonic Ground Test Capabilities at Purdue University: From Low Disturbance to High Enthalpy," panel (Brandon Chynoweth, Joseph Jewell), 3rd National Summit on Hypersonic Weapons Systems, April 2024
- "Department of Defense Space Sensor Modernization," lecture, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, March 2024
- "The Ultimate High Ground: The Role of Space in National Security," panel (Jason Kim, Heather Bogstie, Jack Kuhr), Payload x SXSW, March 2024
- "Getting on Track: Space and Airborne Sensors for Hypersonic Missile Defense," panel (John Hill, Alexander Rasmussen, Richard Ritter, Ryan Tully, Tom Karako), CSIS, December 2023
- "Complex Air Defense: Countering the Hypersonic Missile Threat," guest lecture, Georgetown University SSP, November 2023
- "Data is All You Need: Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and the Missile Defense Enterprise," presentation, Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems Seminar, October 2023
- Panel discussion, 2nd National Summit on Hypersonic Weapons Systems, April 2023
- Guest lecture (Michael Hunzeker, Eric Gomez), George Mason University, October 2022
- Presentation, DSI Directed Energy Technology Symposium, October 2022
- "Boost-phase Missile Defense: Interrogating the Assumptions," panel (Ian Williams, Trey Obering, Dean Wilkening), CSIS, June 2022
Writing
- "Now We're Talking: Notes on McLuhan, Ong, and Oral Culture" (personal essay, Substack, 2025)
- "Defense Priorities in the Open-Source AI Debate" (report, CSIS, 2024)
- "Avoiding Rashomon with defense venture funding: DoD, VCs need to tell same story" (op-ed, Breaking Defense, 2024)
- "The Pentagon's next satellite launch is a test for missile defense's future" (op-ed, Breaking Defense, 2024)
- "Getting on Track: Evaluating Space and Airborne Missile Sensing Architectures" (report, CSIS, 2023)
- "How Advanced Technology is Changing Deterrence" (op-ed, Defense News, 2022)
- "Boost-Phase Missile Defense: Interrogating the Assumptions" (report, CSIS, 2022)
- "Complex Air Defense: Countering the Hypersonic Missile Threat" (report, CSIS, 2022)
- "Strategy in the Next Missile Age" (report [2-part], CSIS for DoD Office of Net Assessment, 2020, 2021)
- "More than Missiles: China Previews its New Way of War" (report, CSIS, 2019)
Media
- "Starlink’s rapid global rollout complicated by Elon Musk’s ties to Donald Trump," Financial Times, March 23, 2025
- "What Trump's Iron Dome demands," Axios, February 19, 2025
- "Trump proposes US 'Iron Dome' to thwart Putin's threats," The Times, January 31, 2025
- "Star Wars," Tectonic Defense, January 30, 2025
- "Trump's 'Iron Dome for America' executive order calls for much more than Israeli version," The Washington Examiner, January 28, 2025
- "CSIS analysts offer positive takes on export-controls rule, note room for improvement," Inside AI Policy, January 16, 2025
- "Northrop gets green light for hypersonic interceptor," Axios, October 2, 2024
- "U.S. and Japan buddy up on Patriot missile production," Axios, August 21, 2024
- "Can Donald Trump's Iron Dome plan keep America safe?" The Economist, August 11, 2024
- "The rise of laser warfare," WBUR, June 7, 2024
- "Russia uses similar drones to exhaust Ukrainian infrastructure," The Washington Post, April 14, 2024
- "Missile-finding Space Force unit in Qatar 'almost certain' to have saved lives," Stars and Stripes, March 29, 2024
- "North Korean missiles won't defeat Ukraine," Business Insider, January 29, 2024
- "How the U.S. Military Uses Satellites to Detect Enemy Missiles," The Wall Street Journal, January 28, 2024
- "Report: Multi-orbit sensing architectures optimal for hypersonic missile defense," DefenseScoop, December 18, 2023
- "Defense Department Officials Discuss Hypersonic Missiles," C-SPAN, December 17, 2023
- "Why The Pentagon Is Spending Billions To Bring Laser Weapons To The Battlefield," CNBC, November 15, 2023
- "Israel-Hamas War," Sky News, October 18, 2023
- "The problem with 'hypersonic' and Russia's attack claim," POLITICO, March 21, 2022
- "The Pentagon Wants to Ruin China's 'Sputnik Moment'," Foreign Policy, February 7, 2022
- "Should we believe North Korea's hypersonic missile claims?" Forces News, January 14, 2022
- "Food for Thought: Missiles," Inkstick Media, February 11, 2020