Zack Cooper is an American national security and foreign policy analyst currently serving as a senior fellow at the

American Enterprise Institute The American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, known simply as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), is a center-right think tank based in Washington, D.C., that researches government, politics, economics, and social welfare ...

(AEI), an adjunct assistant professor at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

, and a lecturer in Public and International Affairs at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He also serves on the advisory boards of the

Open Technology Fund The Open Technology Fund (OTF) is an American nonprofit corporation that aims to support global Internet freedom technologies. Its mission is to "support open technologies and communities that increase free expression, circumvent censorship, an ...

and the

Foundation for Defense of Democracies The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a Neoconservatism, neoconservative 501(c)(3) organization, 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank based in Washington, D.C., United States. It has also been described as a pro-Israel, anti-Iran lobby gr ...

' Center on Sanctions and Illicit Finance. Cooper's research focuses on US strategy and alliance building in

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and US-China relations.

Education

Cooper holds a BA in public policy from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

. He earned a MA and a PhD in security studies as well as a MPA in international relations from

Career

From 2005 to 2006, Cooper was a foreign affairs specialist at the

U.S. Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, t ...

and later became special assistant to the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy from 2006 to 2007. From 2007 to 2008, he served as assistant to the deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism in the White House National Security Council. In 2010, Cooper joined the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments as a Research Fellow and in 2013, joined the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...

as a Senior Fellow for Asian Security. In 2019, he was appointed co-director of and senior fellow at the Alliance for Securing Democracy at the

German Marshall Fund The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) is a non-partisan American public policy think tank that seeks to promote cooperation and understanding between North America and the European Union. Founded in 1972, through a gift from the W ...

. Cooper is a participant of the Task Force on U.S.-China Policy convened by

Asia Society The Asia Society is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and around the world (Hong Ko ...

's Center on US-China Relations.

On US-Taiwan relations

In October 2023, Cooper visited Taiwan and met with President

Tsai Ing-wen Tsai Ing-wen (; pinyin: ''Cài Yīngwén''; born 31 August 1956) is a Taiwanese politician and legal scholar who served as the seventh president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2016 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Progressive Party ...

as a part of an AEI delegation led by

Robert Doar Robert Larkin Doar is an American businessman, writer, and former public administrator serving as the president of the American Enterprise Institute. His research focuses on federal and state antipoverty policies and safety net programs. Ear ...

, along with

Kori Schake Kori N. Schake ( ; born 1962) is an American international relations scholar currently serving as Director of Foreign and Defense Policy at the American Enterprise Institute. She has held several high-level positions in the U.S. Defense and State ...

, Nicholas Eberstadt, Dan Blumenthal, among others.

Publications

Articles

* Does America Have an End Game on China? ''

Foreign Policy Foreign policy, also known as external policy, is the set of strategies and actions a State (polity), state employs in its interactions with other states, unions, and international entities. It encompasses a wide range of objectives, includ ...

'' & ''ChinaFile'', December 15, 2023 * Biden's Asia Diplomacy is Still Incomplete, ''War on the Rocks'', August 23, 2023 * America Still Needs to Rebalance to Asia, ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

,'' August 11, 2021 (co-authored with Adam P. Liff) * U.S.-Chinese Rivalry Is a Battle Over Values, ''

,'' March 16, 2021 (co-authored with

Hal Brands Hal Brands (born 1983) is an American columnist and scholar of US foreign policy. He is the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University, as well ...

) * Democratic Values Are a Competitive Advantage, ''

,'' December 22, 2020 (co-authored with Laura Rosenberger) * To Arm or to Ally? The Patron's Dilemma and the Strategic Logic of Arms Transfers and Alliances, ''

International Security ''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publis ...

'', October 1, 2016 (co-authored with Keren Yarhi-Milo and Alexander Lanoszka)

Reports

* Countering Coercion in Maritime Asia, ''CSIS'', May 5, 2017 (co-authored with Michael J. Green, Kathleen H. Hicks, John Schaus, and Jake Douglas)

Edited Volumes

* ''Postwar Japan: Growth, Security, and Uncertainty Since 1945'', '' CSIS/

Rowman & Littlefield Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns ...

'', 2017 (co-edited with Michael J. Green) * ''Strategic Japan: New Approaches to Foreign Policy and the U.S.-Japan Alliance,'' ''CSIS''''/

'', 2014 (co-edited with Michael J. Green)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Zack Living people Stanford University alumni Princeton University alumni United States–Asian relations American foreign policy writers American Enterprise Institute CSIS people Georgetown University faculty American international relations scholars Asia-Pacific Year of birth missing (living people) China–United States relations Taiwan–United States relations