Hicks formerly served as a senior vice president, Henry A. Kissinger Chair, and director of the international security program at CSIS. She concurrently served as the Donald Marron scholar at the
Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies.[11] In October 2020, she also served on the
CSIS-
LSHTM High-Level Panel on Vaccine Confidence and Misinformation amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, co-chaired by
Heidi Larson and J. Stephen Morrison.[12]
In January 2024, Secretary of Defense
Lloyd Austin temporarily delegated his authority to Hicks while
he was hospitalized. Hicks performed the role of Secretary of Defense "on and off" while vacationing in
Puerto Rico, but was left unaware of the reason why for three days.[19] In February 2024, Austin again delegated his authority to Hicks while being hospitalized.[20]
2023 interview with Jon Stewart
In April 2023, Hicks sat down with comedian
Jon Stewart for a wide ranging interview at the War Horse Symposium in Chicago. Stewart addressed questions to her regarding military spending and the failures to help veterans. He described the failure to pass annual audits as evidence of "waste, fraud, and abuse" adding, "Congress gave [the military] billions of dollars to go to war, every year, for a lot of years, and then the veterans have to fight for money on the back end".[21] Hicks acknowledged that those issues did "play into recruiting and retention challenges for defense officials".[22] The exchange went viral online with many praising Stewart for highlighting the issue, while Hicks was criticized for laughing at Stewart's concerns and making condescending comments such as asking Stewart if he knew what an audit was.[23][24] Laura Seligman of Politico wrote of the exchange, "One potential hurdle for Hicks is the bad press from an interview with Jon Stewart, [who] ripped military spending as “corruption” and Hicks came off looking defensive".[25]
Selected works
Hicks, Kathleen; Ridge, Eric (2007). Planning for Stability Operations: The Use of Capabilities-based Approaches. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
ISBN978-0-89206-515-8.
Hicks, Kathleen H. (2008). Invigorating Defense Department Governance: A Beyond Goldwater-Nichols, Phase 4, Report. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
ISBN978-0-89206-528-8.
Hicks, Kathleen H.;
Wormuth, Christine E.; Ridge, Eric (2009). The Future of U.S. Civil Affairs Forces. Center for Strategic and International Studies.
ISBN978-0-89206-568-4.
Alterman, Jon B.; Hicks, Kathleen H. (2015). Federated Defense in the Middle East. Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN978-1-4422-5881-5.
Hicks, Kathleen H.;
Metrick, Andrew; Samp, Lisa Sawyer; Weinberger, Kathleen (August 2, 2016). Undersea Warfare in Northern Europe. Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN978-1-4422-5968-3.
Hicks, Kathleen H.; Samp, Lisa Sawyer (2017). Recalibrating U.S. Strategy toward Russia: A New Time for Choosing. Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN978-1-4422-8006-9.
Hicks, Kathleen H.; Lauter, Louis; McElhinny, Colin (2018). Beyond the Water's Edge: Measuring the Internationalism of Congress. Rowman & Littlefield.
ISBN978-1-4422-8088-5.