Christopher J. Bright, GW MPhil ’03, PhD ’06

Christopher J Bright headshot

Christopher J. Bright, GW MPhil ’03, PhD ’06

Historian and Consultant, Vienna, Virginia


Joined Fall 2014

Christopher J. Bright is a diplomatic historian with a specialty in post-war U.S. foreign policy.  He has been a public administrator in state, local, and federal levels of government and has served as a consultant to a variety of public and private organizations.

For nearly a decade, Mr. Bright led a subcommittee staff on the Committee on Armed Services in the U.S. House of Representatives.  Previously, he managed national security and foreign affairs issues for now-retired U.S. Rep. Tom Davis.  Before going to Capitol Hill, Mr. Bright was the Assistant Secretary of Commerce and Trade during the administration of Virginia Governor George Allen.  He also served as an aide to the chairman of the Fairfax County (Virginia) Board of Supervisors, the chief elected official of what was then the nation’s eleventh most-populous municipality.

Christopher Bright has contributed to World Affairs and other publications, and authored Continental Defense in the Eisenhower Era:  Nuclear Antiaircraft Arms and the Cold War (Palgrave Macmillan).

Mr. Bright is a professorial lecturer at the Elliott School, and a Fellow at the National Security Institute at George Mason University.

Christopher Bright received his A.B. from William and Mary and an M.A. (Foreign Affairs) from the University of Virginia. He holds an M.Phil. and Ph.D. from GW, where he served as a trustee.