Dr. Karolis Aleksa is Deputy Director of the Defence Policy and Planning Department, Ministry of National Defence of Lithuania. He is also a Lecturer at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science of Vilnius University (VU IIRPS). He holds PhD in political science from VU IIRPS. He has published articles on international security issues. As a Deputy Director of Defence Policy and Planning Department he specifically focus on emerging security challenges, including cyber, energy, maritime, and strategic forecast, analysis.