Roy Kamphausen

Senior Advisor for East Asia

Global Affairs

Roy Kamphausen is Senior Vice President for Research and Director of the Washington, D.C., office at The National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), and concurrently serves as Senior Advisor for East Asia to the Vice President for Global Affairs Daniel Weiner. At NBR, he provides executive leadership to the Bureau’s policy research agenda on security, politics, energy, economics, and trade. Kamphausen directs NBR’s engagement with the administration, U.S. Congress, and foreign embassies in Washington, D.C. and integrates the work of Admiral Jon Greenert, NBR’s Shali Chair in National Security Studies, with ongoing programs and new initiatives.

As a specialist on a range of U.S.-Asia issues, Kamphausen leads and contributes substantively to NBR’s research initiatives. He is the author, contributing author, or co-editor of numerous publications, including chapters in NBR’s Strategic Asia series; the Carlisle People’s Liberation Army Conference series and its most recent volume, The Chinese People’s Liberation Army in 2025 (co-edited with David Lai, 2015); an NBR Special Report on innovation in India (2015); and the IP Commission’s Report on the Theft of American Intellectual Property (2013). His areas of expertise include China’s People’s Liberation Army, U.S.-China defense relations, East Asian security issues, innovation, and intellectual property protection. He has presented on these topics throughout the United States, Asia, and Europe to government and corporate decision-makers. Kamphausen is frequently cited in U.S. and international media, including CNN, the Financial Times, Foreign Policy, National Public Radio, Newsweek, and the New York Times.

Kamphausen is an adjunct associate professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and lectures regularly at leading U.S. military institutions, including the United States Military Academy (West Point) and the U.S. Army War College. Kamphausen regularly briefs members of Congress and consults for the U.S. Department of Defense. Prior to joining NBR, Kamphausen served as a career U.S. Army officer. As a China foreign area officer, his career included assignments as China policy director in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, China strategist for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a military attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

Kamphausen holds a BA in Political Science from Wheaton College and an MA in International Affairs from Columbia University. He studied Chinese at both the Defense Language Institute and Beijing’s Capital Normal University. He is a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, the Asia Society, and the Council for Security and Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific.