Middlebury Institute graduates discuss where they work today, how the Institute helped them get there, and what advice they’d give to current and future MIIS students.
My name is Anne Pellegrino and I graduated with my MA in Nonproliferation and Terrorism Studies from the Middlebury Institute in 2018. I am currently the media programs manager at Planet Labs, a satellite imagery company based in San Francisco.
I first stepped foot on the Middlebury Institute campus in Monterey when I did a summer internship at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies (CNS) in my senior year of college. I was starry-eyed and knew I wanted to work at CNS—a hub of experts and people who are pushing the field of new tools and open-source intelligence. My sole focus was get into the Middlebury Institute, become a graduate research assistant at CNS, and then parlay that into a full-time research position.
And that was exactly what I did.
When I was a graduate research assistant in 2019, one of my projects was creating a map of Russia’s old nuclear weapons test site up on the Arctic island of Novaya Zemlya. I can’t travel there, so I had to go find historical satellite imagery and current satellite imagery of the site to understand both how the test site was built and when nuclear tests happened.
This test site shut down in the ’90s, so it was interesting that we saw activity there.
We believed that Russia was updating facilities in case they wanted to resume subcritical nuclear tests. We wanted to show everybody what was happening so that we could force a conversation between important parties to prevent the resumption of nuclear weapons testing.
What I loved about working at CNS was the access to satellite imagery software and specialized training that would help us assess missile capabilities. I learned how to interpret satellite imagery, which is critical in the nuclear field because we often study places we cannot travel to.
All these tools and publicly available information create this body of work now called open-source intelligence. Work that was historically only done by intelligence communities behind closed doors is now across the Internet. There’s so much information available for folks in the public sphere to use and incorporate into their research.
Open-source intelligence takes decision making out from solely involving folks behind closed doors and puts that discussion out into the open so the public can contribute. I believe that making more information available to more people leads to better decision making and better outcomes for society.
The Center for Nonproliferation Studies has so much access to powerful tools because of great relationships that the center brokered with satellite imagery suppliers. In the instance of Planet Labs, Jeffrey Lewis had published satellite imagery and Planet spotted it on Twitter. They reached out to offer access to their data, which was the start of a really close relationship with Planet.
The partnership between Planet and CNS was so successful it led to an astronomical increase in demand for satellite imagery, both from other think tanks and across the media landscape. Planet decided they needed to hire someone specifically to run what is now known as our Media and Think Tank Program, and they hired me for that new role.
I love my job because it’s different every single day. The types of requests that come are always so unique. It is incredible to see the creativity that folks at think tanks and in the media have of how they can incorporate satellite imagery into their research.
One thing that is hard about this job is that no one comes to us asking about good news stories. It’s “What treaty is broken? What villages are being burned?” But it’s important to tell these stories. Knowing that I can do something tangible to at least help show what’s happening in our world with the hope this data will force people to talk about it and find solutions is what keeps me going.
What I loved about working at CNS was the access to satellite imagery software and specialized training that would help us assess missile capabilities.
I am grateful to the Middlebury Institute and CNS for developing my sense of expertise. I am an expert in this field and I have something to say. I started out not feeling confident in my knowledge and feeling like I didn’t have a lot to contribute. My mentors at CNS really helped me develop that sense of self and that, yes, I know what I’m talking about and I have something to contribute.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to do open-source analysis, I would encourage you to go online and find these communities that are doing this work in a collaborative space, like the Arms Control Wonk Discord community.
Whatever skills you bring, you can lend them freely to these types of investigations. You can also learn more skills from folks who are providing their experience and their knowledge set. This community is really open and transparent and collaborative, so there are ways that you can get involved even if you are not part of a formal institution.
| by Caitlin Fillmore
Every year, dozens of students at the Middlebury Institute get advanced hands-on training and access to top experts in nonproliferation and arms control in paid research positions.
| by Caitlin Fillmore
The Middlebury Institute has partnered with the Atlantic Council to host undergraduate and graduate students in November 2025 for a cyber competition. Participants will analyze and respond to a fictional cyber crisis during the weekend event.
| by Mark C. Anderson
Fostering international diplomacy is challenging and intense, but certainly fulfilling for graduates growing into leadership in the field of nonproliferation.
