Kurt Campbell

Dr. Kurt Campbell served as the 22^nd Deputy Secretary at the US Department of State from January 2024 to January 2025.  In this capacity he was the principal policy deputy and number two official in the Department of State, and his responsibilities ranged to every dimension of the formulation and execution of American foreign policy.  Immediately prior to his confirmation to this post by the US Senate, he was the Deputy Assistant to the President and Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council at the White House. In this role since inauguration day 2021, Campbell was responsible for developing and implementing a government wide strategy for advancing American interests across the IndoPacific region. The inaugural Coordinator position for the IndoPacific was established during the Biden administration at the National Security Council, and its staff of 25 professionals assisted the President and National Security Council Advisor in a range of diverse tasks.  During 3 years in this position, Campbell led efforts to lift the Quad (Australia, India, Japan and the US) to the leader level, launch the AUKUS initiative that will bring nuclear powered submarines to Australia, supported the first ever trilateral summit between the US, Japan and South Korea, prepared for State dinners and Head of State summits with Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, planned first ever Washington summits for Asean and the Pacific Island leaders, assisted in designing innovative technology partnerships, and helped implement strategies for briefing allies and partners in Europe on the mutual challenges and opportunities confronting us in the IndoPacific. He was also responsible for overseeing the production of national strategic documents and Presidential directives related to the vast and diverse region. Campbell was deeply engaged in every element of diplomacy in the region and conducted regular consultations on a bipartisan basis to Congress. 

Campbell was from 2013-2021 the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Asia Group, LLC, a strategic advisory and capital management group specializing in the Asia Pacific region.  Founded by him in 2013 in Washington, DC, Campbell helped build The Asia Group into the premier advisory group focusing on the key markets of Asia, from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, through Southeast Asia to India.  In addition to supporting diverse business efforts in the surging Asian marketplace, The Asia Group also assisted and facilitated Asian firms seeking to invest into the United States market. Over the course of his tenure at The Asia Group, Campbell helped recruit a hand-picked team of distinguished, high level diplomats, accomplished consultants, investment bankers, academic experts, sector specialists, economic analysts and senior advisors with unique talents across this diverse region to bring deep insights, seasoned advice, and unsurpassed analysis to the Asia Group.

The Asia Group comprised several distinct enterprises during his tenure, ranging from: its leading consulting practice; a boutique capital advisory unit that encompasses broker-dealer services; a state of the art analytic capability with timely reports on market trends, strategic developments, and important innovations; and a firm-funded foundation that provides financial support and firm wide volunteering to underserved communities and exciting Asia related initiatives. Together, these activities represented the core of Asia Group services and activities. Their client roster included numerous sector leaders, many Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 listed companies, and dozens of pioneering, innovative brands. The Asia Group supported a market leader in virtually every sector, commercial activity, emerging technology, and established industry linking the United States to Asia. Advisory tasks to these companies ranged from helping design market entry strategies for new products, high level political and business introductions in target markets, crisis management, analyzing key US-Asia trade trends and intraregional commercial trends, undertaking deep due diligence missions, talent recruitment for key positions, and analysis of important market trends. During his tenure, the Asia Group played a direct role in over $13.5 billion dollars of executed business across many sectors, including aerospace, financial services, defense, information technology, building materials, energy, tourism, and infrastructure.

Campbell concurrently served during this period as Chairman of the Board of the Center for a New American Security in Washington DC, as a non-resident Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, as a Board member for Lixil Corporation in Japan and Standard Chartered Bank, LLC in London, MetLife Insurance in New York and as Vice Chairman of the East-West Center in Hawaii. He was appointed as the first Henry A. Kissinger Fellow at the McCain Institute in Washington DC in 2018. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter appointed him to the Defense Policy Board in 2016.  From 2009 to 2013, he served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, where he is widely credited as being the key architect of the “pivot to Asia.” For advancing a comprehensive U.S. strategy that took him to every corner of the Asia-Pacific region, he was awarded the Secretary of State’s Distinguished Service Award (2013) — the nation’s highest diplomatic honor. Campbell was recognized by Queen Elizabeth in her list of honors in 2014 as an Honorary Officer of the Order of Australia and as an Honorary Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his work in support of American relations with Australia and New Zealand respectively. He also received top national honors from a number of key Asian allies.

Campbell was from 2007-2009 the CEO and Co-Founder of the Center for a New American Security, now a leading national security think tank, and served from 2003- 2010 as the director of the Aspen Strategy Group and Chairman of the Editorial Board of the Washington Quarterly. He was the founder and Chairman of StratAsia, a strategic advisory and consultancy that supported American firms across Asia that was a precursor to The Asia Group. He was the Senior Vice President, director of the International Security Program, and Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2000-2007.

Prior to 2000, Dr. Campbell served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asia and the Pacific, Director on the National Security Council Staff, Deputy Special Counselor to the President for the North American Free Trade Agreement in the White House, and White House fellow at the Department of the Treasury. He was a Lt. Commander in the US Navy Reserves, serving on surface ships, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and in the Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Advisory Unit. He was awarded Georgetown University’s Asia Service Award, the State Department Honor Award, the Republic of Korea medal for service, and the Department of Defense Medals for Distinguished Public Service and for Outstanding Public Service. He also served as the Vice Chairman of the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial to its completion.

Dr. Campbell also has had extensive experience in academia serving in a number of capacities. He was Associate Professor of public policy and international relations at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government between 1987 and 1994, teaching both undergraduate courses in Harvard Yard and graduate level offerings at the Kennedy School.  He served on the admissions committee for the masters in public policy program at the Kennedy School during his entire tenure there. He was also a program advisor for international projects at the Carnegie Corporation of New York reviewing grant applications and field research.  Campbell was concurrently the Assistant Director of the Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University from 1987-1994 and a Director of the South Africa initiative at the School.  Campbell was a resident scholar at Harvard’s North House in 1985-1987 and was a proctor for postgraduate scholarships at the University. He served on the faculty for Executive Training in the combined business school and public policy program at Harvard. He also was a lecturer in international relations at the Watson Institute at Brown University, an Olin fellow at Harvard’s Russian Research Center and a research associate at the Littauer Center in 1985-1987.

Campbell is the author or editor of ten books including most recently The Pivot: The Future of American Statecraft in Asia. He’s also the co-author of Difficult Transitions: Why Presidents Fail in Foreign Policy at the Outset of Power, and Hard Power: The New Politics of National Security. He was the primary author and editor of The Nuclear Tipping Point: Why Countries forgo the Bomb and Climatic Cataclysms: the National Security Implications of Climate Change. He has also published over 80 academic and foreign policy articles. Dr. Campbell was a contributing writer to The New York Times and has written a regular column for the Financial Times. He was also a roving correspondent for the Boston Globe Sunday magazine in Southern Africa.  Dr. Campbell is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Council on Foreign Relations, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and the Trilateral Commission.

He received his B.A. from the University of California, San Diego, a Certificate in music (performance violin and music theory) from the University of Erevan in Soviet Armenia, and his Doctorate in International Relations from Brasenose College at Oxford University where he was a Distinguished Marshall Scholar. He was a Doctoral award fellow at St Cross College and his Oxford thesis received highest honors. Campbell received his varsity “Blue” in tennis at Oxford and rowed in the first varsity boat in his college crew at Brasenose College when they won the London Hammersmith Regatta. He is married to Dr. Lael Brainard, the current head of the National Economic Council at the White House, former Vice Chairman of the US Federal Reserve Board and former Undersecretary of Treasury for International Affairs. Together they live in Washington, DC and have 3 daughters. They also maintain Iron Bell Farm, a restored Civil War era farm in Rappahannock County, VA.