Lt. Col. (ret.) Ivan Kanapathy is a senior associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic
and International Studies, where he also holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies. From March
2018 to July 2021, Kanapathy served on the White House’s National Security Council staff as
director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia and deputy senior director for Asian affairs. Prior to
this position, he worked at the American Institute in Taiwan, representing US interests and
advising on military and security issues in Taipei. Kanapathy holds an MA (with distinction) in
East Asia security studies from the Naval Postgraduate School, a BS in physics and economics
from Carnegie Mellon University, and an AA and diploma (with highest honors) in Chinese –
Mandarin from the Defense Language Institute.
