Biography of Evan A. Feigenbaum

Evan A. Feigenbaum is Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, responsible for India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and the Maldives, as well as Regional Affairs. He was previously the Deputy Assistant Secretary responsible for Central Asia.

Before joining the bureau in July 2006, he served from 2001-06 as a Member of the Secretary of State's Policy Planning Staff, where he had principal responsibility for China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, eleven Southeast Asian countries, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific islands, Asian regional strategy, and multilateral organizations (ASEAN, APEC, ARF). He was closely involved in the development of the US-China Senior Dialogue and was a strategic advisor on China to Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick, as well as an array of issues in US-China, US-Korea and US-Japan relations, strategic planning, and speechwriting on Asia for Secretary of State Colin Powell and other senior officials. He has received individual and group Superior Honor Awards from the Department.

Prior to government service, Dr. Feigenbaum worked at Harvard University (1997-2001), where he was a Lecturer on Government in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Security Initiative and Program Chair of the Chinese Security Studies Program in the John F. Kennedy School of Government. He also taught at the US Naval Postgraduate School (1994-95) as Lecturer of National Security Affairs and was a consultant to the RAND Corporation (1993-94). His publications include two books: China's Techno-Warriors: National Security and Strategic Competition from the Nuclear to the Information Age (Stanford University Press, 2003; Chinese edition published as Zhonggong Keji Xianqu, Taipei, 2006) and Change in Taiwan and Potential Adversity in the Strait (RAND, 1995). His articles have appeared in journals, edited volumes, and the opinion pages, including International Security, Survival, The New York Times, International Herald-Tribune, Washington Quarterly, China Quarterly, Far Eastern Economic Review, and elsewhere.

A native of New York City, Dr. Feigenbaum received his Ph.D. and A.M. in political science from Stanford University and his A.B. in history from the University of Michigan. He has received a variety of awards, prizes, and competitive fellowships, including Olin and Belfer fellowships at Harvard University (1997-99), and spent three years as a fellow of Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation (1994-97). He studied overseas in Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and Taipei. His languages are Chinese and French, with study of Japanese and Korean.