WASHINGTON, DC – MARCH 6, 2023 – The Atlantic Council’s Indo-Pacific Security Initiative (IPSI) announced today the addition of a diverse group of nine new fellows, as the new initiative rapidly expands its breadth of regional expertise. The initiative, housed in the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, focuses on Indo-Pacific strategy, alliances, and security issues. 

“Our new fellows bring diverse perspectives to the Atlantic Council, and will enhance the knowledge, credibility, and impact IPSI will have on key security issues in the region,” said IPSI Director Markus Garlauskas. “They span a range of generations, professional backgrounds, and national origins, but they all share a belief in the importance of alliances and partnerships to confront shared security challenges in the Indo-Pacific.” 

The initiative’s new cohort of fellows brings extensive experience having worked with, studied, or lived in nearly every Indo-Pacific country. Its members have expertise and experience in a wide range of topics, including alliance management, cyber-defense, deterrence, diplomacy, economic statecraft, human rights, intelligence, information operations, logistics, military command and control, nuclear weapons, and strategy.  

“I look forward to the work these new fellows will do with IPSI in the months and years ahead,” said Matthew Kroenig, senior director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. “This group of active and entrepreneurial experts will bring unique insights to our mission, enabling continued growth and direct impact on the public debate and US and allied strategy and policy.”   

The initiative will welcome seven experts as nonresident senior fellows, with strong track records of professional accomplishment, and deep expertise in areas relevant to the initiative’s portfolio, including: 

  • Victor Atkins, director of executive advisory services for industrial cybersecurity at 1898 & Company; former US Department of Energy, intelligence community, and National Security Council official; 
  • Dr. Jieun Baek, research project manager for technology and human rights in North Korea at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy; director of Labs for Liberty in North Korea; 
  • Joshua Cartin, former National Security Council deputy senior director for Asia; retired career foreign service officer with the US Department of State including four different postings in the Indo-Pacific region; 
  • Dr. Thomas Cynkin, Japan and Northeast Asia practice lead of the Transnational Strategy Group; former executive with Fujitsu Limited, and foreign service officer at the US Department of State in senior Asia-related positions along with postings in Japan; 
  • Colonel Gittipong “Eddie” Paruchabutr (US Army, retired), former senior military advisor and director of the Information Operations Division, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict; 
  • Dr. Bee Yun Jo, associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses; former research professor at the Institute of International Affairs at Seoul National University; 
  • Dr. Sara Bjerg Moller, associate teaching professor and director of international and alumni affairs, Georgetown University Security Studies Program. 

The initiative will also welcome two nonresident fellows with strong military and defense backgrounds including service in the Indo-Pacific, who are currently pursuing doctoral studies on critical topics in the initiative’s portfolio:

  • Lieutenant Colonel Amos Oh (US Army), strategist and plans officer at US Strategic Command; PhD candidate at the University of Southern California; 
  • Major Jessica Taylor (US Air Force Reserve), former strategist for United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, and US Forces Korea; PhD candidate at Princeton University. 

For media inquiries, please contact press@atlanticcouncil.org  

About the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security  

The Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security works to develop sustainable, nonpartisan strategies to address the most important security challenges facing the United States and the world. The center honors General Brent Scowcroft’s legacy of service and embodies his ethos of nonpartisan commitment to the cause of security, support for US leadership in cooperation with allies and partners, and dedication to the mentorship of the next generation of leaders. As the United States enters a new era of strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific and around the world, the Scowcroft Center is proud to play a central role in crafting effective and nonpartisan strategies and policies for the twenty-first century.  

Indo-Pacific