Kingston Reif is a senior international/defense researcher at RAND. Prior to joining RAND, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Threat Reduction and Arms Control. In this role he was the principal advisor to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs responsible for: acquisition oversight of the Chemical Demilitarization Program and Defense Threat Reduction Agency countering Weapons of Mass Destruction partner capacity building programs; ensuring Defense Department compliance with and implementation of Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear (CBRN) treaties; and resource sponsorship of CBRN defense and counterproliferation capabilities for the warfighter.

Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Reif was the Director for Disarmament and Threat Reduction Policy at the Arms Control Association from October 2014 to November 2021. His worked focused on U.S. nuclear weapons policy, U.S.-Russia nuclear arms control, missile defense, preventing nuclear terrorism, and nuclear disarmament. Before joining the Arms Control Association, he was the Director of Nuclear-Nonproliferation at the Center for Arms Control and Nonproliferation and Council for a Livable World. From September 2008 until May 2009 Reif served as Dr. Morton Halperin's research assistant on the Congressional Strategic Posture Commission.

Reif holds a B.A. in International Relations from Brown University. He spent two years in the U.K. as a British Marshall Scholar where he received a MSc. in International Relations from the London School of Economics and Political Science and a M.Litt. in International Security Studies from the University of St. Andrews.