Robert A. Manning is a distinguished fellow with the Strategic Foresight Hub at the Stimson Center where we mostly works on China, emerging technologies, and great power competition. Prior to joining Stimson, Manning served as a senior fellow with the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council; as Acting Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Economics at the National Intelligence Council (NIC); as Senior Strategist within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) at the National Counterproliferation Center; and as Director of long-range Energy and Regional/Global Affairs at the NIC’s Strategic Futures Group.
From 2005 to 2008, Manning was a member of the Policy Planning Staff for the U.S. Secretary of State, and from 2001 to 2005, he was senior counsellor for Energy, Technology, and Science Policy at the Department of State. Within these positions, Manning advised the Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs and other senior officials on a range of issues, including energy and climate change policy as well as new technologies. Previously, Manning was also an advisor for Policy and Public Diplomacy to the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (1989-93) as well as an advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (1987-88).
From 1997 to 2001, he was Director of Asian Studies and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), where he led several CFR task forces, including on Korea and Southeast Asia. Manning’s notable publications range from reports on global innovation, to books on energy, China, and nuclear weapons, to regular essays in leading journal and newspapers like Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the New York Times.
