Robert L. Suettinger is an American international relations scholar currently serving as a senior advisor at

The Stimson Center The Stimson Center, named after American statesman, lawyer, and politician Henry L. Stimson, is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that aims to enhance international peace and security through analysis and outreach. The center's stated approach ...

and an advisor to the

Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) is an international, cross-party alliance of parliamentarians from democratic countries focused on relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), and specifically, the Chinese Communist Party ...

(IPAC). He was national

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

officer for

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea and ...

at the

National Intelligence Council The National Intelligence Council (NIC), established in 1979 and reporting to the Director of National Intelligence, bridges the United States Intelligence Community (IC) with policy makers in the United States. The NIC produces the "Global Tren ...

(NIC) from 1997 to 1998 during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

. While there, he oversaw the preparation of national intelligence estimates for the director of the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

. His areas of specialty are the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and the

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

s program.

Education

Suettinger holds a BA from

Lawrence University Lawrence University is a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Appleton, Wisconsin. Founded in 1847, its first classes were held on November 12, 1849. Lawrence was the second college in the U.S. to be founded as a coeducation ...

and a MA in

comparative politics Comparative politics is a field in political science characterized either by the use of the ''comparative method'' or other empirical methods to explore politics both within and between countries. Substantively, this can include questions relatin ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Career

Suettinger served as Director for Asian Affairs on the

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a na ...

from March 1994 to October 1997, where he assisted National Security Advisers

Anthony Lake William Anthony Kirsopp Lake (born April 2, 1939) is an American diplomat and political advisor who served as the 17th United States National Security Advisor from 1993 to 1997 and as the 6th Executive Director of UNICEF from 2010 to 2017. He ha ...

and

Sandy Berger Samuel Richard "Sandy" Berger (October 28, 1945 – December 2, 2015) was an attorney who served as the 18th US National Security Advisor for US President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001 after he had served as the Deputy National Security Adviso ...

in the development and implementation of U.S. policy toward the Asia-Pacific region. He also served as deputy national intelligence officer for East Asia at the NIC from 1989 to 1994, and from 1987 to 1989 was President

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...

's director of the office of analysis for East Asia and the Pacific at the

U.S. Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

's Bureau of Intelligence and Research. After working in the Clinton administration, Suettinger joined the

Brookings Institution The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

as a senior analyst.

Publications

Books

* Beyond Tiananmen – The Politics of U.S.-China Relations, 1989-2000 ''(

Brookings Institution Press The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...

, 2003)''.

Reports

* “American ‘Management’ of Taiwan Strait ‘Crises:’ 1954, 1958 and 1996” in

Michael D. Swaine Michael Dalzell Swaine (born March 11, 1951) is an expert in China and East Asian security studies. Swaine is a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. Prior to joining the Quincy Institute, Swaine was a Senior Ass ...

, ed., ''Managing Sino-American Crises: Case Studies and Analysis'', ''Carnegie Endowment for International Peace'', October 2006 * “Tough Engagement: U.S.-China Relations” in

Richard Haass Richard Nathan Haass (born July 28, 1951) is an American diplomat. He has been president of the Council on Foreign Relations since July 2003, prior to which he was Director of Policy Planning for the United States Department of State and a close ...

and Meghan O’Sullivan, editors, ''Honey and Vinegar: Incentives, Sanctions and Foreign Policy'',

, 2000

Articles

* Leadership Policy toward Taiwan and the United States in the Wake of Chen Shui-bian's Reelection, ''

Hoover Institution The Hoover Institution (officially The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace; abbreviated as Hoover) is an American public policy think tank and research institution that promotes personal and economic liberty, free enterprise, and ...

'', July 30, 2004

References

Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American intelligence analysts Columbia Graduate School of Arts and Sciences alumni Lawrence University alumni The Stimson Center United States Department of State officials {{US-gov-bio-stub Brookings Institution people George H. W. Bush administration personnel Clinton administration personnel