ST. PAUL, Minnesota— A former undersecretary of defense for policy and a key planner of the Iraq war, Doug Feith, will be taking up a new post at the Hudson Institute in Washington.

The Hudson Institute’s CEO, Kenneth Weinstein, said that Mr. Feith will be heading up the institute’s center for national security strategies. “We are very excited to have someone of Doug’s caliber on our staff at Hudson Institute,” Mr. Weinstein said. “He is a very significant addition. He brings wide policy experience, a deep knowledge of history and strategic insight, all of which we will rely upon.”

Mr. Feith said he would be focusing his work on completing research on his idea of developing a “civilian reserve corps,” or corps of non-military professionals that can be called upon to volunteer for reconstruction and stabilization missions. Mr. Feith pushed the idea while he was at the Pentagon and describes the proposal in his book, “War and Decision.”

While Mr. Feith said he enjoyed his tenure at Georgetown University, which declined to renew his contract this year, he said he was delighted to be joining Hudson. “It has a lot of excellent people, it is a superb platform for doing policy work,” he said.

In addition to Mr. Feith, a former USAID Administrator for the Bush administration, Andrew Natsios will be joining the think tank, as well as Chris Ford, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation.