David F. Helvey is a nonresident senior fellow in the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
Prior to joining the Atlantic Council, Helvey served for over twenty-seven years as a career civil servant in the US Department of Defense. His most recent assignment, from 2021 to 2025, was as secretary of defense deputy representative in Europe, a role in which he was responsible for planning, recommending, coordinating, and monitoring Pentagon policies, programs, and initiatives in Europe. Helvey was also the deputy defense advisor for the US Mission to NATO, a role in which he was responsible for the formulation, coordination, and presentation of Department of Defense policies to the US ambassador to NATO.
Prior to joining the US Mission to NATO, Helvey served from 2017 to 2021 as the principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs and performed the duties of the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. His prior assignments in the Office of the Secretary of Defense include deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia from 2012 to 2015, with earlier assignments as country director for China; director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia; senior advisor for China policy and integration; and principal director for East Asia. From 2015 to 2016, Helvey served as a visiting distinguished research fellow in the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs at the National Defense University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies.
Helvey has been awarded the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive, the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Medal (Silver Palm), the Secretary of Defense Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, Office of the Secretary of Defense Exceptional Civilian Service Medal, the Paul H. Nitze Award for Excellence in International Security Affairs, the Director of National Intelligence Award for Collaboration Leadership, and the Defense Intelligence Agency Director’s Award for Meritorious Civilian Service. Helvey graduated from American University with an MA in US foreign policy and from West Virginia University with a BA in political science.
