Kimberly Lehn is a national security professional with nearly 18 years of experience 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 on East Asia issues. She also served assignments to the National Security Council's Directorate of East Asia, the Department of State's Intelligence and Research Bureau, and on the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee. At the U.S. Congress, she was the committee's lead policy adviser on the China and the Indo-Pacific portfolio and led the committee’s oversight over U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. As a professional staff member, Kimberly focused on the national security challenges facing the United States, particularly strategic competition with China, 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. She holds a master’s degree in international politics and a bachelor’s degree in interdisciplinary studies: communication, legal institutions, economics, and government at American University. She is a Fulbright scholar and David L. Boren National Security Education Program recipient to South Korea.

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