Sarah Canna

Principal Research Analyst

Sarah Canna is a Principal Analyst at NSI, Inc. She is responsible for managing research teams, analysis, deliverables, and senior leadership briefings for classified and unclassified US Government human and socio-cultural behavior projects. Recent efforts relate to strategic deterrence, anticipating the future operational environment, geopolitical competition below the threshold of war, information and influence operations, and state stability in the Middle East and Africa. Sarah serves as the research coordinator for the US Joint Staff-directed Strategic Multilayer Assessment (SMA), which provides decision and planning support to Combatant Command and Service leaders facing complex operational and technical imperatives that require collaborative, multi-agency, multi-disciplinary, and mixed-method analyses. She serves as a lead editor and integrator of reports and proceedings focused on topics, such as strategic competition, integrated deterrence, violent extremism, and adversarial intent. She also developed NSI’s Virtual Think Tank (ViTTa^TM) capability, designed to help military planners understand complex socio-cultural dynamics at play in evolving conflict situations by rapidly eliciting insights from an extensive expert network. This methodology has been employed in support of the US Joint Staff, USAFRICOM, USSTRATCOM, USCENTCOM, USINDOPACOM, USSOCOM, USEUCOM, USTRADOC, DHS Science & Technology, and the State Department’s Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization office. Sarah has a MA in Technology and Security from Georgetown University and a BA in Spanish and Latin American Studies from American University.