Peter Brooks is the recipient of the 2025 Andrew J. Goodpaster Award for Excellence in Research. The award is named for retired Army Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster, IDA’s president from 1983 to 1985. Each year, the award is given to a research staff member who demonstrates research excellence, exceptional analytical achievement and intellectual leadership in support of SAC or STPI missions.

Since he joined IDA in 1982, Peter has become known for his analytic insights, comprehensive knowledge of methodologies, ability to form concise frameworks that identify the critical issues, and capacity to form recommendations and plans. His extraordinary ability to define and carry out long-term research programs has resulted in new capabilities.

Peter led a team that pioneered new analytic methods and informed research priorities for the national space enterprise through an innovative experiment based on insights from a 2012 National Commission for the Review of the R&D Programs of the U.S. Intelligence Committee report, for which he served as the lead author. The commission identified areas of science and technology that would pose strategic challenges for the intelligence community, and the majority of its recommendations were implemented. For this work, Peter and his team were awarded the Intelligence Community Meritorious Unit Citation.

Peter’s efforts also contributed to the formation of the new OUSW (R&E) Critical Technology Area on Contested Logistics. His articulation of the vulnerabilities of the global food system and its impact on national security led to a 2017 National Defense Authorization Act direction for a study of this potential threat. He defined and is currently leading a large cross-divisional study to assure that critical global resource domains are not controlled by adversaries.

Peter earned a doctorate in mathematics at Stanford University. He received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Princeton University.