Zach Burdette is a Ph.D. candidate in political science at MIT’s Security Studies Program and a Predoctoral Research Fellow in the International Security Program at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center. His dissertation examines how states manage their trade relationships with their security competitors. His other research focuses primarily on the military balance in the Western Pacific. Zach is also an adjunct researcher at the RAND Corporation, where he has worked on projects related to U.S. grand strategy, defense planning, and escalation management. Prior to MIT, he graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown University with a B.S. in Foreign Service and an M.A. in Security Studies.