Video On Demand

The Banyan Tree Leadership Forum: Kurt M. Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

September 7, 2011 • 6:00 – 7:30 pm EDT

U.S. Strategy in the Pacific

Please join us for a Banyan Tree Leadership Forum presentation on US strategy in the Pacific with, Dr. Kurt Campbell. Assistant Secretary Campbell will discuss the upcoming the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) in Auckland (September 6-8) and the Australia-US Ministerial (AUSMIN) in San Francisco (September 15). Assistant Secretary Campbell’s remarks will be on the record.

Keynote Remarks by:

The Honorable Kurt M. Campbell
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Introduction by:

Ernie Bower
Senior Advisor and Director, Southeast Asia Program, CSIS


Kurt Campbell became the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in June 2009. Previously, he was the CEO and Co-Founder of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) and concurrently served as the director of the Aspen Strategy Group and chairman of the Editorial Board of the Washington Quarterly. He was the founder of StratAsia, a strategic advisory firm, and was the senior vice president, director of the International Security Program, and Henry A. Kissinger Chair in National Security Policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He was also associate professor of public policy and international relations at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and assistant director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at HarvardUniversity.

Dr. Campbell has served in several capacities in government, including as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Asia and the Pacific, a director on the National Security Council Staff, deputy special counselor to the president for NAFTA in the White House, and White House fellow at the Department of the Treasury. For his service, he received the Department of Defense Medals for Distinguished Public Service and for Outstanding Public Service. He served as an officer in the U.S. Navy on the Joint Chiefs of Staff and in the Chief of Naval Operations Special Intelligence Unit.

He received his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, and a doctorate in international relations from Brasenose College at Oxford University where he was a Distinguished Marshall Scholar.


CSIS has recently announced the formation of its new Pacific Partners Initiative (PPI) focusing specifically US interests and policy in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Island Countries. We invite you to join the discussion by signing up with us at CSIS Pacific Partners Initiative, on Facebook at CSIS Pacific Partners Initiative, and Twitter – @ PacPartnersDC.

Ernest Z. Bower