Jedidiah P. Royal, a career member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. He oversees IPSA’s extensive portfolio – spanning China, Taiwan and Mongolia; East Asia; South and South East Asia; and Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia – and works across the national security enterprise to synchronize IPSA activities with foreign policy objectives.
Before joining IPSA, Mr. Royal served as Deputy Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, where he coordinated implementation of a diverse array of Security Cooperation programs. Prior to joining DSCA, Mr. Royal served as the Director of Defense Policy and Plans at the U.S. Mission to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In this capacity, Mr. Royal represented the United States to the NATO alliance on defense policy, capability, planning, deterrence, burden sharing and partnership matters. Prior to his position at NATO, Mr. Royal served in a variety of positions in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, most recently as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia affairs. He was also detailed to the National Security Council at the White House as Director for Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2013-2015; served as the Director for Cooperative Threat Reduction Policy in the office of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction from 2010-2013; and served on exchange in Canberra, Australia as the Director of Strategic Advice in the Australian Department of Defense from 2007-2010. Mr. Royal was also assigned to the Counter Proliferation Policy office and the Office of Negotiations Policy. Mr. Royal started his career in the United States Senate as Legislative Assistant for Near East and South Asia Policy at the Foreign Relations Committee.
Mr. Royal holds the degree of M. PHIL from the University of New South Wales where his research and writing focused on the economic-security nexus, in particular the consequences of economic volatility on security relationships. He completed his undergraduate studies in International Affairs at The George Washington University.