Fred Charles Iklé (1924–2011) was a Swiss-American sociologist, defense expert, and government official renowned for his contributions to U.S. national security policy. Born on August 21, 1924, he earned an M.A. in 1948 and a Ph.D. in 1950 from the University of Chicago. Iklé began his career in academia as a university teacher, specializing in defense and foreign policy, nuclear strategy, and the role of technology in international relations. He served as Director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency (ACDA) from 1973 to 1977 and later as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (also referred to as the senior official overseeing international security policy) from 1981 to 1989 under President Ronald Reagan, playing a key role in shaping Cold War strategies. In his later career, Iklé was a Commissioner on the National Commission on Terrorism, which issued its report in June 2000. He joined the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in 1988 as a Distinguished Scholar, was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, served on the Department of Defense's Defense Policy Board Advisory Committee, and acted as a Director of the National Endowment for Democracy. A resident of Bethesda, Maryland, Iklé's work bridged academia and high-level policymaking, influencing U.S. approaches to arms control and global security challenges until his death on November 10, 2011.