Subrata Ghoshroy

Subrata Ghoshroy is a Research Associate in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Previously, he was a Senior Defense Analyst at the Government Accountability Office. He was born in India and received his Masters in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in 1973. He joined the GAO in 1998, and has since accused it of improperly investigating a June, 1997 ballistic missile test. [cite journal|first=William|last=Broad|title=Accountability Office Finds Itself Accused|journal=New York Times|date=April 2, 2006] Ghoshroy has been a Senior Defense Analyst at the Government Accountability Office (GAO) since 1998. He is currently on a leave of absence from GAO and is working as a research associate in the Science, Technology, and Society Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is leading a project called Promoting Nuclear Stability in South Asia. In addition, he is conducting research on space weapons and international space cooperation.

Mr. Ghoshroy was a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the John F. Kennedy School at Harvard University from September 2002 to December 2003 on a sabbatical from GAO. During this time, he conducted independent research on weaponization of space and edited a book entitled Ensuring America’s Space Security, which was published by the Federation of American Scientists in October 2004.

In his seven years at GAO from 1998 to date, Mr. Ghoshroy had contributed to a number of important assignments including two reviews of the controversial airborne laser program, transformation of military communications system, joint tactical radio, future combat systems, and the ballistic missile defense programs. He was the lead investigator for the GAO team which found that the infrared sensor in the missile interceptor of the national missile defense system had failed in a critical test called the Integrated Flight Test (IFT)-1A. He received several awards for his contributions to reviews involving complex technical issues.

Immediately before joining GAO, Mr. Ghoshroy served as a professional staff member of the House National Security Committee from 1997 to 1998, where he was responsible for monitoring and evaluating budget and policy matters related to Military Research and Development (RDT&E) using his expertise to carry out comprehensive evaluations of complex weapons systems that incorporate state-of-the-art technology.

Mr. Ghoshroy was awarded a Congressional Fellowship by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in 1996. He spent his Fellowship year as a professional staff member of the House International Relations Committee with responsibilities for a broad range of issues that included non-proliferation, arms control, ballistic missile defense, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship, laser weapons, chemical weapons demilitarization, and landmines ban.

Prior to his transition to the policy world, Mr. Ghoshroy was for 20 years an engineer and an engineering-manager developing high-power laser, electron beam, and pulse power technologies for plasma fusion, high-energy accelerators, and military lasers. He has a highly successful track record in managing sophisticated, interdisciplinary teams to develop advanced technology for DOD, DOE, and NASA. For example, he developed novel discharge sources for ultra-violet preionization of CO2 lasers and pulse-forming networks for ultra fast switching circuits for discharge lasers. In 1994, Mr. Ghoshroy led a project called Laser Atmospheric Wind Sounder (LAWS) sponsored by NASA to develop the first high-power laser for satellite-based measurement of wind speed.

Mr. Ghoshroy has published a number of papers in his technical field and authored and co-authored many technical reports. He has also published articles on the federal science policy, defense conversion, and nuclear weapons in South Asia. He is a frequent public speaker on science and Congress, arms control, missile defense, and nuclear weapons.

Subrata Ghoshroy was born in India and grew up in Calcutta. He attended Jadavpur University in Calcutta and graduated in1970 with a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree with Honors. He migrated to the United States in 1971 and has been living here continuously since then and became a Naturalized US Citizen in 1987. He obtained master's degree in electrical engineering from Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts in 1973 and in public policy from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1975. Mr. Ghoshroy is married to Sreela Ghoshroy, who is a physician with the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Boston. They have one son Rittick (Ricky) - a senior at the Roxbury Latin School in Boston.

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