David Black

David Black is an adjunct senior fellow with the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He has three decades of experience in foreign assistance and international development and served in multiple senior leadership positions at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

During his tenure at USAID, Black led democracy efforts at the USAID Mission for Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine, and directed postconflict and democracy programming in Kosovo. He oversaw studies on democratic backsliding, measuring the impact of democracy assistance, and the use of impact evaluations in democracy programming. His technical focus areas have included human rights, elections, rule of law, civil society, local governance, media, conflict mitigation, polarization, cybersecurity, climate change, and gender equality. He wrote and coauthored numerous government strategies, evaluations, studies, and policies. Most recently, Black served as senior policy advisor for the Bureau for Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance, where he led the development of USAID’s 2024 Democracy Policy. He was also a resident fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Berlin, where he researched the impact of polarization, digital authoritarianism, malign influence, and other trends on democratization and foreign assistance.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and a master’s degree from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.