NEW: Dr. Scott W. Harold Named Director of CNAS Indo-Pacific Security Program

Washington, November 12, 2026 — The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is thrilled to welcome Dr. Scott W. Harold as senior fellow and director of its Indo-Pacific Security Program. Harold brings significant high-level research and experience on the region, including as a senior appointee in the Pentagon.

“Scott is one of the country’s most respected Indo-Pacific security experts, and he pairs deep scholarship with hands-on policy experience at the Pentagon,” said Richard Fontaine, chief executive officer of CNAS. “Scott is the right leader to sharpen our work on strengthening U.S. alliances, deterring China and North Korea, and maintaining stability in the world’s most critical region.”

“CNAS has built one of Washington’s strongest teams working on the Indo-Pacific, and I’m honored to lead it,” Harold said. “The United States and its allies face hard choices as they grapple with transformative technologies and new threats. I look forward to producing rigorous, practical research that helps policymakers in Washington and allied capitals make those choices well.”

Harold joins CNAS from the RAND Corporation, where he most recently was a senior political scientist, and continues to serve as a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. From 2022 to 2024, he served as senior advisor to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia. Before that, he spent more than 13 years at RAND.

Harold has taught security studies at Georgetown University as an adjunct professor since 2006 and has held adjunct appointments at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

In 2024, Harold was awarded the Council on Foreign Relations/Hitachi International Affairs Fellowship in Japan. He has held visiting fellowships at the Mercator Institute for China Studies, Institut Montaigne, and the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation.

Harold is fluent in Mandarin and holds a PhD from Columbia University, where his dissertation examined China’s decision-making on joining the World Trade Organization.

The CNAS Indo-Pacific Security Program has consistently shaped Washington’s policy on the most pressing security issues in the world’s most populous region. Recent research has included projects on the effects of AI on the U.S.-China relationship, repairing U.S.-India relations, securing Taiwan’s information security, and more.

To learn more about the CNAS Indo-Pacific Security Program or to interview Scott Harold, please reach out to Charles Horn, communications officer, at [email protected]