Theresa Sabonis-Helf

Theresa Sabonis-Helf is based in the Georgetown School of Foreign Service Master’s Degree program, teaching and serving as the Chair of the Science, Technology and International Affairs concentration since 2021.  Prior to joining Georgetown, she was a Professor of National Security Strategy at the National War College and an international development professional.  She has lived and worked in seven countries of Eurasia and assisted two of these countries with the development of their National Security Strategies, and has co-edited two volumes on Central Asia’s political and economic transition. She has been a frequent advisor to NATO and to the US government, and teaches energy security principles to government officials in several countries.  She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

She has published and lectured extensively on energy security and energy transition, climate change policies, critical infrastructure resilience and security, Eurasian energy and environmental issues, and the politics of electricity. Professor Sabonis Helf is the author of Georgian Enegry: Sectors, Security and Strategies. She holds a PhD in Political Science from Emory University, and an MPA in International Affairs from Princeton University.

Click the ‘Listen’ button below to hear Dominic Bowen and Theresa Sabonis Helf discuss how Ukraine’s electricity grid has been weaponised in Russia’s war against Ukraine with over 2000 air, drone and artillery strikes on its energy infrastructure. Click ‘Read’ for a more in-depth analysis on how energy infrastructure has been transformed into a frontline battleground and how warfare by blackout has become a central component of Russia’s military campaign.