Speaker biographies

Dan Blumenthal joined AEI in November 2004 as a resident fellow in Asian studies. He currently serves as vice chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which he joined in 2005, and as a member of the Academic Advisory Board for the Congressional U.S.-China Working Group. Previously, he was senior director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for international security affairs during the George W. Bush administration. In addition to writing for AEI’s Asian Outlook series, he has written articles and op-eds for the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, National Review, and numerous edited volumes. He is currently working on a book that will examine divides within the China policymaking community.

Colonel Tom Ehrhard (U.S. Air Force, retired) is a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Prior to his retirement from the Air Force in 2006, Colonel Ehrhard served as the military assistant to Andrew W. Marshall, the Secretary of Defense’s principal advisor for net assessment. During his twenty-six years of active service, Ehrhard worked in key air staff assignments in the Pentagon, including one as chief of the “Skunk Works” (Strategy, Concepts, and Doctrine Division) and as a division chief on the Air Force’s 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review staff. His recent published works include “Unmanned Aerial Vehicles in the United States Armed Services: A Comparative Study of Weapon System Innovation” (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies) and “Making the Connection: An Air Strategy Analysis Framework” (Air University).

Colonel Larry M. Wortzel (U.S. Army, retired) is the former director of the Asian Studies Center and vice president for foreign policy at the Heritage Foundation. He has also served as director of the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College and as the Army attaché at the U.S. embassy in Beijing. He is currently serving his third term as a commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, and he served as the commission’s chairman during the 2006 report cycle.

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