The U.S.-Japan Alliance Realizing a Free and Open Indo-Pacific

Japan Ministry of Defense (2020) and Senior Advisor to the National Security Secretariat (2018-20). Dr. Jimbo’s main research interests are in International Security, Japan-US Security Relations, and Japan’s Foreign and Defense Policy. He has been a policy advisor for various Japanese governmental commissions and research groups, including the National Security Secretariat, the Ministry of Defense, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His policy writings have appeared in various outlets, including the RAND Corporation, NBR, Stimson Center, Pacific Forum CSIS, Japan Times, Nikkei, Yomiuri, Asahi and Sankei Shimbun.

and director for Japan and Oceanian affairs under President Obama (2014–2016). In the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Johnstone led offices with responsibility for South and Southeast Asia (2017–2021) and East Asia (2016–2017); he was director for Northeast Asia from 2010 to 2014, where he had principal responsibility for developing strategy for the U.S.-Japan alliance. Mr. Johnstone began his career as an intelligence officer in the Central Intelligence Agency, where he worked on national security issues in Northeast Asia and served in an overseas field station. Mr. Johnstone has a master's in public affairs from Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs and a Bachelor of Arts from Swarthmore College. He speaks fluent Japanese.

USINDOPACOM, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and the Intelligence Community. Before joining RAND, she served as the Director of the Navy Asia Pacific Advisory Group at the Pentagon, where she advised the Chief of Naval Operations on security and foreign policy trends in the Indo Pacific region with a focus on Chinese maritime strategy and naval capabilities. Prior to her position on the Navy staff, Ms. Gunness was senior project director on Chinese military and security affairs at CNA. Gunness holds a B.A. from Tufts University in international relations, a certificate in Chinese studies from the Johns Hopkins SAIS Nanjing Center, and an M.A. in security studies from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service.

of essential consular services to a 600,000-strong British resident community and British visitors. Ms. Cloke has a range of policy, commercial and international experience working for the British Government. Her recent roles include as Deputy CEO for the UK-Africa Investment Summit hosted by the Prime Minister in 2020, and as a senior leader in the Department for International Trade’s Sectors Group, overseeing export and investment promotion for industry sectors including aerospace, advanced manufacturing and education. She has worked overseas as Trade Director for the British Embassy Tehran, setting up and leading the UK’s trade section and strategy following the re-opening of the British Embassy in 2015, and as Head of Trade at the British Embassy Sweden. Ms. Cloke’s wider experience includes advising on the creation of the world’s first Green Investment Bank, and leading the Ministerial private office for the Minister of Employment Relations and Consumer Affairs/Minister for Women & Equalities. Ms. Cloke started her career as a lawyer in the City of London and studied law at Cambridge University.

was previously assigned to the Philippine Embassy in Damascus, Syria and the Philippine Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya. Mr. Maleon is a graduate of Arellano School of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy from the Ateneo de Manila University and educational certificates from Harvard University, University of London, University of Washington and Georgetown University. Mr. Maleon has been working with the Department of Foreign Affairs for 13 years. He is married to a lawyer, Ms. Karen Aboud.

Midnight’s Children, as well as starring in the CBC comedy series Little Mosque on the Prairie, which has been seen in more than 80 countries. Mr. Shaikh co‐produced the special Long Story Short: CBC Turns 75 and co‐wrote, directed and co‐produced the film Othello: The Tragedy of the Moor. He also co-founded and served as an artistic producer of the Whistler Theatre Project in British Columbia. From 2014 until his appointment in 2018, Mr. Shaikh was the Film Commissioner and Director of Entertainment Industries for the City of Toronto. In that role, he oversaw and grew the city’s screen, music, live festival, sporting event and tourism sectors, helping to double the value of film production in Canada’s largest city which surpassed $2 billion in 2016. Mr. Shaikh has served as a board member for the Institute for Canadian Citizenship, the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, and most recently, on the board of AFC (formerly the Actors Fund of Canada). He has served on juries and committees for the Gemini Awards, ACTRA Awards, Ontario Arts Council, and Theatre Ontario Youth Program as well as an ambassador for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and for Amnesty International Canada. Mr. Shaikh is married to Ms. Kirstine Stewart. They have two children.

International Economy Division, Economic Affairs Bureau (2010-11), and First North America Division, North American Affairs Bureau (2013-14). He served in the Prime Minister’s Office as Deputy Cabinet Secretary for Public Affairs from 2014-16.

He has also served as Deputy Director-General of the Economic Affairs Bureau (2019-20) and Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau (2020-21), and as Ambassador in Charge of Economic Diplomacy (2019-20). His most recent assignments were as Assistant Minister and Director-General for Cultural Affairs and Ambassador in Charge of Sport and Budo (2021-22). Consul General Sone’s additional overseas assignments include Counselor to the Permanent Mission in Geneva, Switzerland (2005-08) and Minister for Economy & Development at the Embassy of Japan in India (2016-19).

Ukraine’s post-war reconstruction and economic issues related to Russia’s war on Ukraine; great power competition in the Middle East; the Chinese and Russian economies; the finances and management of the Islamic State and its predecessors; and socio-economic policy projects in China, Israel, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Mongolia, and Saudi Arabia. From 2007 to 2008, he was on leave from RAND, serving as a senior economist at the U.S. President’s Council of Economic Advisers. He has written academic journal articles, book chapters, and policy reports on trade and labor markets, the geography of international investment, exchange rates and economic performance, services trade, and trade barriers and low-income countries. He holds a Ph.D. in public policy from Harvard University.

the global economy, international trade, and Asian markets. A columnist for The Diplomat magazine and contributing editor to The Globalist, she was previously a donor country relations officer for the World Bank and has been awarded fellowships from the East-West Center and the Knight Foundation, among others. She received an M.A. in international political theory from the Graduate School of Political Science, Waseda University, Japan, and a B.A. in Modern History, from Trinity College, University of Oxford, UK.

Director, Asia and Pacific Division, Trade Policy Bureau (2010-2012); and Deputy Director-General for Trade Policy, Trade Policy Bureau (2017-2019). In METI, Mr. Shinoda was also engaged in negotiations on free trade agreements, such as RCEP, and economic cooperation with ASEAN, China and India. He was also posted to Asian countries such as the Embassy of Japan in the Philippines (1996-1999), JODC Bangkok Office (2002-2005), JOGMEC Beijing Office (2012-2014) and Japan-China Economic Association Beijing Office (2014-2017). He was seconded to the GRIPS in 2019 and become a professor in 2022. He has been engaged in research and education on Asian economy and Indo-Pacific cooperation. Mr. Shinoda obtained his B.A. from the University of Tokyo in 1988 and Master of Science in Industrial Administration (MSIA) from Carnegie Mellon University in 1994.

region, including its alliances. Hornung has written extensively about Japanese security and foreign policy issues and broader Northeast Asia security issues for numerous media, policy, and academic outlets. He received his Ph.D. in political science from The George Washington University. During 2005–2006, Hornung was a visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo where he conducted his doctoral research as a Fulbright Fellow. He also holds an M.A. in international relations with a concentration in Japan Studies from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and a B.A. in political science and international affairs from Marquette University, where he graduated magna cum laude.