Caroline Rose

Caroline Rose is the director of Military and National Security Priorities at New Lines Institute, where she leads and manages three portfolios: Crime-Conflict Nexus,  Military Withdrawals, and Tech Sovereignty and Security. Her research and policy analysis primarily focus on the intersection of defense, security, illicit trades, and geopolitical landscapes, with particular expertise on criminality in the Middle East.  Rose also serves as an expert adviser and consultant to intergovernmental organizations and initiatives on counternarcotics, counterterrorism, and security, for organizations like the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the European Union. She has also served as an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, teaching a graduate course on the nexus of illicit economies, armed conflict, and insecurity.  She is a recipient of the Middle East Policy Center’s 2025 40 Under 40 Awards and MedGlobal’s 2025 Advocacy Award.

Prior to joining New Lines, Rose served as an analyst at the forecasting firm and publication Geopolitical Futures, where she worked on political, economic, and defense developments in the Middle East and Europe, with a focus on the Mediterranean and the Levant. She is also the author of a special policy report on the trade of the illicit drug captagon in the Mediterranean and Gulf and its effect on security challenges – a culmination of her studies and field work as research associate for the LSE International Drug Policy Unit’s Middle East Initiative. 

Rose has repeatedly briefed U.S. and allied ministries, intelligence agencies, embassies, and legislative bodies on the captagon drug trade and insecurity in the Middle East, and their effects on U.S. and partner interests. She has authored special reports and advised organizations like UNODC and the European Union, offering expertise on the crime-conflict nexus and synthetic drug trades in the Middle East. She has also testified before the British Parliament, providing expert evidence on the captagon trade in Syria. Her commentary and work on defense issues, security challenges, and geopolitical developments have been featured in The Washington Post, NBC, CNN, BBC News, NBC News, PBS, The Sunday Times, Foreign Policy, Politico, Al Jazeera, BBC World Service, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Australian Broadcasting Company, The Financial Times, The Independent, and other outlets.   

Rose holds a master of science in International History from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a bachelor of arts in International Studies from the American University’s School of International Service. You can find her on X at @CarolineRose8, on Bluesky at CarolineRose8.bsky.social, and Instagram at @Caroline_D_Rose.