The ongoing US and Israeli conflict with Iran has expanded across the Middle East, and is already upending economic markets and regional security. On March 10, 2026, the Center for Climate & Security will host a webinar and audience Q&A on the food, water, & energy implications of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

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Speakers to include:

Tom Ellison, Deputy Director, Center for Climate and Security

Tom Ellison is Deputy Director of the Center for Climate and Security (CCS). His expertise includes the security implications of food and water crises, migration, climate mis/disinformation, geoengineering, and the energy transition. He is published and quoted in a range of outlets, such as Lawfare, Just Security, PBS NewsHour, and TRT World. 

Prior to joining CCS, Tom spent a decade in the US intelligence community, where he helped expand analysis of the security and foreign policy implications of climate change for senior policymakers across the US government. Prior to that, he received commendations for intelligence analysis of terrorist threats, insurgencies, and political turmoil during the Arab Spring. He traveled extensively in Europe and the Middle East, including war zones.

Tom is an Arabic speaker and holds an M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. in Political Science from Colgate University. He also serves on the Board of Homes Not Borders (serving the refugee and forced migrant population in Washington, DC) and writes humor in outlets like McSweeney’s and The New Yorker.

Dr. Cullen Hendrix, Non-resident Fellow, Center for Climate and Security

Dr. Cullen Hendrix (@cullenhendrix) is Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, and Non-resident Senior Fellow at the Center for Climate & Security. Recently, Dr. Hendrix was a Specially Appointed Research Professor at Hiroshima University in Japan, where he is a researcher with the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS). Prior to joining PIIE full-time, he was Professor of International Studies at the Korbel School, University of Denver.

His 30+ peer-reviewed articles on the relationships between international markets, natural resources, and conflict, as well as the economic and security implications of climate change, have appeared in journals ranging from Nature, Nature Climate Change, Biological Reviews, Ecology and Society, Marine Policy, and Global Environmental Change to the British Journal of Political Science, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Political Geography, and Journal of Peace Research. He is coauthor, with Marcus Noland, of Confronting the Curse: The Economics and Geopolitics of Natural Resource Governance (2014).

Hendrix has authored reports published by or consulted for organizations including the Asian Development Bank, the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the National Intelligence Council, Oxfam America, USAID, and the World Food Programme, among others. His published commentaries have appeared in Foreign Policy, Barron’s, War on the Rocks, and the Washington Post, and his perspective has informed reporting for the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, and National Public Radio. He was a contributing author to the 2022 IPCC report, for which he assessed the implications of climate change for threats to peace and human mobility.

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation’s Coupled Natural and Human Systems program, the US Department of Defense Minerva Initiative, the Carnegie Corporation, and the Smith Richardson Foundation, and he was a pre-doctoral fellow at the Peace Research Institute, Oslo. He holds a PhD and MA from the University of California, San Diego, where he was a fellow of the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, and a BA from Kalamazoo College.

Swathi Veeravalli, Advisory Board Member, Center for Climate and Security

Swathi Veeravalli  is a member of the Center for Climate and Security Advisory Board, and an an interdisciplinary research scientist at the Geospatial Research Laboratory, Engineer Research and Development Center, US Army Corps of Engineers. Since 2010, she has been Principal Investigator on several basic and applied research projects where she focuses on developing the capability to better understand the impact of climate variability upon humans and the environment.

Prior to government service, Swathi was a water analyst at Global Water Intelligence, where she assessed and monitored water, wastewater and desalination projects of the international water industry. She also helped coordinate a World Bank longitudinal study examining the productive uses of piped water in Kenya.  Swathi has several years’ experience in international development, youth engagement and  advocacy.  Swathi holds a Master’s of Science in Water Science, Policy & Management from the University of Oxford. At Oxford, her research focused on peri-urban water development with fieldwork in Kenya and Botswana.  Swathi also holds a BA in International Affairs with concentrations in African Politics and Development from the George Washington University.  She has worked and travelled in over 68 different countries.

Peter Schwartzstein, Non-resident Fellow, Center for Climate and Security

Peter Schwartzstein is an environmental journalist and a non-resident research fellow at the Center for Climate and Security. Based first in Cairo and now Athens, he has reported on water, food security, and conflict-climate issues across more than 30 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. Peter mostly writes for National Geographic, but has also contributed frequent articles to Bloomberg, the BBC, and the New York Times, among other publications.

In addition to journalism, Peter regularly consults on climate security and other topics for the likes of UNEP, UNICEF, ICRC, and Amnesty International, and mentors young environmental reporters. Prior to his move to the Middle East, he worked for Reuters in London. Peter holds BA and MA degrees from Trinity College, Dublin, and is a member of the Overseas Press Club, Royal Geographic Society, Society of Environmental Journalists and Frontline Freelance Register. He is also a Global fellow at The Wilson Center and a TED fellow.

Email: pflschwartz (at) gmail.com

Dr. Marcus D. King, Non-resident Fellow, Center for Climate and Security

Marcus D. King is the Vice Chair and Secretary of the Council on Strategic Risks Governing Board. He is also a Non-resident Senior Fellow and member of the Advisory Board at the Center for Climate and Security. He has extensive experience with climate change and energy issues in academia, policy-research organizations and the U.S. government.

Dr. King is a Professor of the Practice in Environment and International Affairs at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and Earth Commons Institute. Formerly, he was the John O. Rankin Associate Professor of International Affairs and Director of the International Affairs Program at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. Dr. King was previously Associate Research Professor and Director of Research where he worked with the Elliott School’s nine centers and institutes to coordinate over $30 million in faculty sponsored research proposals. Prior to these positions Dr. King served as a globalization planning fellow and special assistant for international initiatives in Georgetown University’s Office of the President. He was also appointed as an adjunct assistant professor. King’s teaching and academic research focus on field of environmental security. His current book project examines linkages between water scarcity and violent extremism.

Dr. King joined the Elliott School from CNA Corporation’s Center for Naval Analyses where he led studies for U.S. government agencies on climate change security, resilience, adaptation and energy security. He was also project director for the CNA Military Advisory Board (MAB), an elite group of former admirals and generals that launched landmark reports on how these topics affect U.S. national security. Prior to CNA, Dr. King was Research Director of the Sustainable Energy Institute; and Senior Manager for Energy and Security Programs at a private consultancy.

In the 1990s, Dr. King held appointments in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as a foreign affairs specialist in environmental security where he represented the United States for negotiation of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and the Office of the Secretary of Energy where he directly supported the Deputy Secretary and participated in negotiations on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy with the Russian Federation.

Dr. King has presented at academic conferences, written peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and delivered invited lectures to several governments and international organizations. He has been cited by The New York Times, Newsweek, Slate, and Vice Magazine among others and appeared on Al Jazeera.

A graduate of the Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, King holds a Ph.D. in international relations from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.