Lisa Curtis

Lisa Curtis is the director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). With over 20 years of service in the U.S. government, her work centers on U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific and South Asia. Curtis served as deputy assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021. She also was senior fellow on South Asia at the Heritage Foundation (2006 to 2017); a staffer on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (2003 to 2006); senior advisor in the State Department (2001 to 2003); senior analyst at the CIA (1998 to 2001); and a diplomat at the U.S. embassies in Islamabad and New Delhi (1994 to 1998). Curtis received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in December 2020 in recognition of her work at the NSC. She is currently Board Chair of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Board Member of Women for Afghanistan, and a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.