CPT Christine Krueger USMA ’08, M.E. Northeastern University ‘17

CPT Christine Krueger commissioned out of West Point in 2008 and began her military career as an UH60 Blackhawk helicopter pilot.  After receiving her Master’s degree in Operations Research from Northeastern University in 2017, she moved on to her current position as an instructor for the Systems Engineering Department at West Point and Analyst for the Operations Research Center (ORCEN).  In that capacity, she teamed up with Dr. Frey and the CHGS on a project assisting another US government agency with developing one means of measuring the costs of mass atrocities.  The US Government annually spends billions of dollars on foreign aid disbursed for reasons both preventative and reactionary in nature.  A significant amount of the aid is reserved for assisting regions and countries who are recovering from mass atrocities and genocide.  Evidence indicates that the amount of aid increases in the years subsequent to an atrocity.  CPT Krueger is embarking on research to measure the difference in pre- and post-atrocity aid.  Specifically, analysis will be conducted on whether the difference is significant and will attempt to identify other factors which influence the amount of aid spent.   A second goal of this research, which she is integrating into the SE450 “Applied System Design and Decision Making” course, is to develop a model which uses economic indicators to predict atrocities as well as tools that can be used to prevent them.  Working in collaboration with Dr. Charles Anderton at the College of the Holy Cross, CPT Krueger and her class will use a system dynamics approach in order to identify and validate economic variables which indicate an impending atrocity.  Should their research succeed, they will apply the same methods to preventive intervention measures which can lessen the severity of the atrocity or decrease the costs to the US Government.