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, with a particular focus on U.S.-India strategic relations, the Quad (dialogue between the United States, Australia, India, and Japan), counterterrorism strategy in South and Central Asia, and China’s role in the region.
Curtis served as deputy assistant to the president and National Security Council senior director for South and Central Asia from 2017 to 2021, where she received the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service in December 2020 in recognition of her work. She also served as senior fellow on South Asia at the Heritage Foundation from 2006 to 2017, and previously worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the State Department, at the Central Intelligence Agency, and at the U.S. Embassies in Islamabad and New Delhi.
Geopolitical trends throughout the world are evolving rapidly. The Trump administration is seeking to focus greater attention and resources on the Indo-Pacific region to compete more effectively with China. What role will India, an important strategic partner of the United States with one of the fastest growing economies in the world, play in this vitally important region? Will it contribute to greater peace and prosperity? Will it serve as a counterweight to rising China? Or will its internal challenges hamper its ability to project power in a way that truly impacts the regional security balance?
The topic of her talk will be: "India's Role in the Shifting Geopolitical Order: Disruptor, Balancer, or Stabilizer?"
