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Jul 19, 2023

Allen in the Wall Street Journal on US efforts to simultaneously deter Russia and China

On July 18, Michael Allen and Connor Pfeiffer co-authored a Wall Street Journal piece making the case for the United States’ ability to simultaneously counter Russia and China. Citing the US’ strengthened defense industrial base, partly bolstered by the war in Ukraine, the pair contend that the US is equipped to both provide continued support […]

China Defense Technologies

Michael Allen is a nonresident senior fellow with the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security’s Scowcroft Strategy Initiative and managing director of Beacon Global Strategies LLC.

Allen has spent his career in the national security arena working in the White House, Capitol Hill, and in the private sector advising on critical national security issues such as technology, cybersecurity, non-proliferation, and intelligence matters. In addition, he is a frequent contributor and commentator on national security and foreign policy issues on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

From 2011-2013, Allen served as the majority staff director of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI). Prior to joining the HPSCI, he was director for the Bipartisan Policy Center’s successor to the 9/11 Commission, the National Security Preparedness Group, co-chaired by former Congressman Lee Hamilton and former Governor Tom Kean.

Previously, Allen served in the George W. Bush White House for seven years in a variety of national security policy and legislative roles.

At the National Security Council (NSC), he served as special assistant to the President and senior director for counter-proliferation strategy from June 2007 to January 2009 under National Security Advisor Steve Hadley.

As the special assistant to the President and senior director for legislative affairs from March 2005 to June 2007, Allen was the NSC’s chief liaison with the national security committees of Congress.

Allen is the author of Blinking Red: Crisis and Compromise in American Intelligence After 9/11 (Potomac Books, September 2013). He has also authored “Reforming National Intelligence: The 9/11 Commission,” in Triumphs and Tragedies of the Modern Congress (Center for the Study of the Presidency & Congress, 2014) and has published several op-eds including in The Wall Street Journal and Foreign Policy.

Allen received his LLM with distinction in International Law from the Georgetown University Law Center, his JD from the University of Alabama (cum laude), and his BA from Vanderbilt University.