Dr. Amy Searight Joins CSIS to Lead Southeast Asia Program

June 10, 2016

WASHINGTON, June 10, 2016 : The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is pleased to announce that Dr. Amy Searight has joined CSIS as senior adviser and director of the Southeast Asia Program. Dr. Searight succeeds Ernest Bower, who had directed the program since 2009. Mr. Bower continues to work with CSIS as chairman of the Southeast Asia Advisory Board.

“Amy joins us at a critical moment for Southeast Asia,” said John J. Hamre, CSIS president and CEO. “Amy has a formidable background, and we are delighted that she will be leading our research efforts as the region increasingly commands the attention of decisionmakers.”

Dr. Searight comes to CSIS with a wealth of experience on Asia policy—spanning defense, diplomacy, development, and economics—in both government and academia. Most recently, she served in the Department of Defense (DOD) as deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, beginning in 2014. Prior to that appointment, she served as principal director for East Asian security at DOD and as senior adviser for Asia in the U.S. Agency for International Development. She has also served on the policy planning staff and as special adviser for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in the State Department as a Council on Foreign Relations international affairs fellow.

Dr. Searight was an assistant professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, where she taught international relations of Asia and directed the mid-career master’s program in international policy and practice. She was also an assistant professor at Northwestern University and a postdoctoral fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University.

She holds a Ph.D. in political science and an M.A. in East Asian studies from Stanford University, and she graduated magna cum laude from Williams College with a B.A. in political economy.

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The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is a bipartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1962 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. It seeks to advance global security and prosperity by providing strategic insights and policy solutions to decisionmakers.