{"id":3853,"date":"2026-01-06T20:43:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T20:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/people\/candace-rondeaux\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T12:53:56","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:53:56","slug":"candace-rondeaux","status":"publish","type":"person","link":"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/people\/candace-rondeaux\/","title":{"rendered":"Candace Rondeaux"},"template":"","issue_tax":[319],"topic_tax":[186,189,222,224],"program_tax":[153],"project_tax":[58,124,169,203,209,225,237,240],"person_tax":[2044],"fellowship_tax":[],"person_type":[77,70],"class_list":["post-3853","person","type-person","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","person_type-fellow","person_type-staff"],"acf":{"details":{"headshot":3854,"first_name":"Candace","last_name":"Rondeaux","title":"Senior Fellow, Future Security","description":"","external_link":"","organization":"","helper_social_links":null,"helper_taxonomies":{"issue_tax":[319],"topic_tax":[186,189,222,224],"program_tax":[153],"project_tax":[58,124,169,203,209,225,237,240],"fellowship_tax":false,"person_type":[70,77]}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"add_background_color":false,"content":"<p data-block-key=\"nkdvu\"><b>Candace Rondeaux,<\/b> a globally recognized expert on international affairs, U.S. national security, irregular warfare, and the strategic use of organized violence, is a Fellow at the Future Security program at New America. Her book, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hachettebookgroup.com\/titles\/candace-rondeaux\/putins-sledgehammer\/9781541703087\/?lens=publicaffairs\"><b><i>Putin's Sledgehammer: The Wagner Group and Russia's Collapse into Mercenary Chaos<\/i><\/b><\/a> (PublicAffairs, May 2025), reveals how mercenaries, mobsters, and oligarchs have become central tools of Kremlin power projection.<\/p>\r\n<p data-block-key=\"2ds15\">She previously served as lead of New America's <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/future-frontlines\/\"><b>Future Frontlines<\/b><\/a> program and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newamerica.org\/planetary-politics\/\"><b>Planetary Politics<\/b><\/a> initiative.\u00a0Rondeaux is also a professor of practice with the <a href=\"https:\/\/futureofwar.asu.edu\/\"><b>Future Security Initiative<\/b><\/a> at Arizona State University and a faculty affiliate with ASU\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/melikian.asu.edu\/\"><b>Melikian Center for Russian, Eurasian and East European Studies.<\/b><\/a> Before joining New America and ASU, she served as a Senior Program Officer at the U.S. Institute of Peace, where she led the RESOLVE Network, a global research consortium on countering violent extremism. As Senior Analyst for the International Crisis Group in Afghanistan and Strategic Adviser to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, she produced high-impact analysis on national elections and security sector reform.<\/p>\r\n<p data-block-key=\"a5d2s\">Rondeaux\u2019s writing career began on the crime and courts beat, covering breaking news across New York, Florida, Virginia, and Maryland. An award-winning journalist, she reported from Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks for the New York Daily News, chronicled the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for the <i>St. Petersburg Times<\/i>, and was part of <i>The Washington Post<\/i> team that won the Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre. Her reporting later took her to the frontlines of Afghanistan and Pakistan, where she served as the Post\u2019s bureau chief. Her analysis and commentary have also been regularly featured in <i>The New York Times<\/i>, <i>Wall Street Journal<\/i>, <i>Financial Times<\/i>, <i>Lawfare<\/i>, <i>Small Wars Journal<\/i>, <i>Just Security<\/i>, <i>Daily Beast<\/i>, and <i>World Politics Review<\/i>. She has testified before Congress and provided expert advice to several UN panels and commissions on conflict, the protection of civilians, transnational organized crime, and the outsourcing of violence. She has documented political violence and conflicts in hotspots around the world, including Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Georgia, and Ukraine. Rondeaux holds a BA in Russian Area Studies from Sarah Lawrence College, an MA in Journalism from NYU, and an MPP from Princeton University.<\/p>","":null,"drop_cap":false,"anchor_id":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_add_component","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_taxonomies","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_taxonomies":{"":null,"anchor_id":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_person_latest","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_person_latest":{"":null,"anchor_id":""}}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Candace Rondeaux - New America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Candace Rondeaux is a globally recognized expert on international affairs, U.S. national security, irregular warfare, and the strategic use of organized violence. 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