Civil Council on Defense and Security (CCDS)

Dr. Tamara Pataraia is an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia, where she teaches in the Department of Politics and International Relations, her courses focus on global security and nuclear nonproliferation. She is also the founding member of several NGOs focused on promoting democratic oversight and good governance. With over two decades of active collaboration with civil society organizations, she has authored numerous academic articles, research surveys, and policy reports. Her research primarily explores democratic transitions, good governance, and the nuclear nonproliferation and nuclear security. Additionally, she has served as a consultant and evaluator for various international programs.

Tamara has been a visiting fellow at various institutions and is on the Editorial Board of the Quarterly Journal CONNECTIONS and has been involved with the Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes since 2012.

Tamara’s academic journey began with a Ph.D. in Physics and Mathematics from Tbilisi State University in 1992. From 1992 to 2006, she was a research fellow and lecturer at the university, teaching various subjects in theoretical physics.

With over three decades of experience in defense, security, and international relations, promoting and streghening intersection of civil society and strategic governance. Since 2011, have served as a Board Member of the Civil Council on Defense and Security (CCDS), where he contributes to strategic issues and CBRN security. Member of  NATO Partnership for Peace Consortium’s Combating Terrorism Working Group, as well as prior leadership as Co-Chairman of the Regional Stability in Southern Caucasus Study Group.

Earlier in their career, served at the Parliament of Georgia, as a Leading Specialist for the Committee on Foreign Relations and Institute of Phylosophy  of Georgia.

Shorena Lortkipanidze is a founder and a board member of the Civil Council on Defense and Security, a think tank/civil society organization based in Tbilisi, Georgia. She is a specialist of International Relations. For 25 years Shorena has been advising government agencies and civil society. Her professional interests include foreign policy, defense and security policy, security sector reform, CBRN security and nuclear non-proliferation, peace and conflict studies. Shorena is a World Bank-IFC international accountability mechanism dispute resolution specialist/mediator. She worked as an advisor to the Defense and Security Committee of the Parliament of Georgia and worked as an analyst at the research center of Georgia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She is a founder and initiator of various international education, capacity building and dialogue platforms and programs for various stakeholders in Georgia and internationally on CBRN security and nonproliferation.  Shorena is currently teaching International Relations in Georgian Universities. She is an author and coauthor of various publications, textbooks and researches. Shorena is one of the founders of Black Sea Women in Nuclear Network and served as thee first Vice President of BSWN in 2021-2024.

Mr. Soule has over 35 years’ experience primarily with open source intelligence (OSINT)-related nonproliferation research and analysis, focused on developing cooperative commercialization and sustainability programs with international partners while simultaneously acquiring sources of interest. Mr. Soule was an active member of the Interagency Gray Literature Working Group (IGLWG), a committee to improve U.S. Government exploitation of foreign gray literature OSINT. Much of his career supported US Government contract research assessing manufacturing and engineering technologies associated with national security-related industries, while also identifying international business and technology development opportunities for Battelle Memorial Institute, his then employer.

In Georgia, Mr. Soule was Battelle’s Deputy Program Manager and expat Country Officer on DTRA’s Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) in Tbilisi, Georgia that ran between 2010 and 2016. His responsibilities included Commercialization & Sustainability activities, under which he led business training activities for Georgian business developers and was responsible for broadening collaboration between Georgian bio scientists and the international scientific community. Mr. Soule led the development of an initial Gap Analysis to determine the goals and progress of the program and the development of the Business Plan for the BSL2/3 Lugar Center. This brought him into contact with over 100 government, industry, university, and foreign stakeholders.