Biography
Dr. Donald N. Jensen is an adjunct fellow at FDD, where he is focuses on Russian intelligence, disinformation, and other Kremlin malign influence activities.
He also serves as a senior advisor at the Center for Russia and Europe at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) and as an adjunct professor at the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins University. At USIP he works to carry out that organization’s mission of promoting conflict resolution and prevention worldwide. The Center for Russian and Europe provides research, analysis, programming and training in diplomacy, mediation, and other peace-building measures, with special focus on Ukraine, Russia, Moldova and the South Caucasus. Jensen writes extensively on the domestic, foreign, and security policies of Russia, Ukraine, and the other post-Soviet states as well as information warfare. He also regularly appears as a commentator on domestic and international media. He has lectured at various universities, including Harvard, Oxford, Stanford, Sarah Lawrence, and George Washington University.
A former U.S. diplomat, Jensen provided staff support for the START, INF, and SDI negotiations and was a member of the first 10-person U.S. inspection team to inspect Soviet missile bases under the INF Treaty in 1988. While posted at the U.S. Embassy Moscow in 1991, he witnessed firsthand the end of the USSR.
From 1996-2008, Jensen was associate director of broadcasting and head of the research division at RFE/RL, where he helped lead that organization’s expansion into new broadcast regions after the end of the Cold War and the adaptation of multimedia technology to deal with the broadcasting challenges of the 21st Century, especially in Afghanistan and Iran. In 2016, he was a visiting scholar at the NATO Defense College in Rome, where he carried out a major research project on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
A noted baseball historian specializing in the Dead Ball Era and the 19th Century game, Jensen holds a PhD and MA from Harvard, and he received his BA from Columbia. He is fluent in Russian and Italian, with a reading knowledge of Spanish and Latin.