Roberto Zadra worked in the Institute for International Affairs (IAI) in Rome in the 1980s and in the Western European Union (now EU) Institute for Security Studies in Paris in the early 1990s. From 1995 to 1996 he held a senior position advising the Undersecretary of Defence in Rome.
Mr. Zadra joined NATO in 1996. After 4 years in NATO’s Nuclear Policy Directorate, from 2000 to 2007 he supported the Alliance’s political and defence efforts against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery.
From 2008 to 2020 he focused on NATO Ballistic Missile Defence and Integrated Air and Missile Defence. He chaired NATO’s Defence Policy and Planning Committee on Missile Defence, which provided political-military advice on missile defence to the North Atlantic Council.
Between 2010 and 2014, Mr. Zadra also chaired the NATO-Russia Council (NRC) Missile Defence Working Group, which explored possibilities for missile defence cooperation between NATO and Russia. This effort ended in 2014, following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
From 2020 to 2023 he focused mostly on NATO’s relations with China and partners in the Indo-Pacific region. He chaired related discussions in the Political Committee and in the Partnership and Cooperative Security Committee.
Mr. Zadra has a Master in Political Science. He speaks fluently Italian, German, English and French.