Kimberly Lehn

Prior to this role, Kim spent nearly 18 years in the U.S. federal government leading intelligence, defense, and foreign policy communities primarily on China and East Asia issues. She spent most of her career in the intelligence community, most recently serving as the chief of staff of the China Mission Center and the East Asia Pacific Mission Center at the Central Intelligence Agency and as a senior analytic manager and analyst. Kim also served assignments to the National Security Council's Directorate of East Asia, the Department of State's Intelligence and Research Bureau, and the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee (HASC). 

At the U.S. Congress, Kim was HASC’s lead policy adviser on the China and the Indo-Pacific portfolio and led the committee’s oversight of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Northern Command, and later the U.S. Strategic Forces Command. As a professional staff member, Kim focused on the national security challenges facing the United States, particularly strategic competition with China and Russia, and the important role alliances and partnerships play to build collective security. She also led the development of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a bipartisan legislative initiative to elevate the Department of Defense’s resource priorities on the Indo-Pacific theater, and played a central role in the committee’s oversight and implementation of the National Defense Strategy. 

She holds an M.A. in International Politics and a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies: Communication, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government, both from American University. She is a Fulbright scholar and David L. Boren National Security Education Program recipient to South Korea.