Assistant Secretary of Defense

Mark W. Lippert is the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs (APSA).  He is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy related to the nations and international organizations of Asia and the Pacific, their governments and defense establishments, and for oversight of security cooperation programs, including foreign military sales, in the region.

Prior to being confirmed in April 2012, he completed a two-year mobilization to active duty in the United States Navy.  During that time, which included a deployment to Afghanistan, he served as an intelligence officer for Naval Special Operations Forces. 

Mr. Lippert served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff for the National Security Council in 2009.  In 2008, he was Deputy Director for Foreign Policy on the Obama-Biden Transition Team and Senior Foreign Policy Adviser on the Obama for America campaign. 

From 2007 to 2008, Mr. Lippert served as an intelligence officer with Naval Special Operations Forces in Iraq.   

Previously, he worked as foreign policy adviser for then-Senator Obama from 2005 to 2008, where he managed the senator's work on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.  From 2000 to 2005, he was a professional staff member on the Senate Appropriations Committee, State-Foreign Operations Subcommittee, advising Senator Patrick Leahy on a range of foreign aid and security assistance issues.  From 1999 to 2000 he was a foreign and defense policy adviser to Senator Tom Daschle and the Senate Democratic Policy Committee. 

Mr. Lippert’s military awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq.

He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University with a B.A. in Political Science and holds an M.A. in International Policy Studies from the same institution.  He also studied Mandarin Chinese at Beijing University.

ASD Bio PDF

Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense

Dr. Peter R. Lavoy is Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs (APSA) and serves concurrently as Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for APSA.  He is the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Secretary of Defense on international security strategy and policy that relate to the nations and international organizations of Asia and the Pacific, their governments and defense establishments, and for oversight of security cooperation programs, including Foreign Military Sales, in the region.

Previously, he served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), where he was Director for Analysis from August 2010 through August 2011, Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis from December 2008 through August 2010, Chairman of the National Intelligence Council from December 2008 through July 2009, and National Intelligence Officer for South Asia from October 2007 to November 2008.  Prior to joining the ODNI, Dr. Lavoy directed the Center for Contemporary Conflict and taught in the National Security Affairs Department of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA.

Dr. Lavoy has edited several books and written numerous journal articles and book chapters on a wide array of subjects related to South Asian security and weapons proliferation.  His edited books are Over the Horizon Proliferation Threats (Stanford University Press, forthcoming 2011), Asymmetric Warfare in South Asia: The Causes and Consequences of the Kargil Conflict (Cambridge University Press, 2009), Terrorism, War, or Disease?: Unraveling the Use of Biological Weapons (Stanford University Press, 2008), Nuclear Weapons Proliferation in the Next Decade (Routledge, 2008), and Planning the Unthinkable: How New Powers Will Use Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons (Cornell University Press, 2000).

Dr. Lavoy served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in 2000 as Principal Director for Requirements, Plans, and Counterproliferation Policy, and from 1998 to 2000 as Director for Counterproliferation Policy.  He received an M.A. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in Government from Oberlin College.  He has traveled extensively throughout South Asia and speaks Hindi, Urdu, and French.

PDASD Bio PDF 

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia

David Samuel Sedney is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.
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Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia

Vikram J. Singh is Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.  Mr. Singh serves as the principal advisor to senior leadership within the Department of Defense for all policy matters pertaining to development and implementation of defense strategies and plans for the region.  His area of responsibility includes bilateral security relations with India and all other South Asian countries, excepting Afghanistan and Pakistan; and with the nations of Southeast Asia, plus Australia, Timor Leste, New Zealand, and the Pacific Island States.
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Principal Director for East Asia

Mr. David F. Helvey is the Principal Director for East Asia in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, East Asia (APSA/EA).  Prior assignments in the Office of the Secretary of Defense include Country Director for China, and Director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia, and Senior Advisor for China Policy and Integration.
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