Richard Fontaine, Chief Executive Officer of Centre for a New American Security & Beth Sanner, Senior fellow at Harvard University Belfer Centre & Former Deputy Director for National Intelligence, will address the National Press Club of Australia on "Beyond Taiwan: Are There Other Crocodiles Closer to the Boat?" & "The United States in the Indo-Pacific: Pivoting or Pretending"
Richard Fontaine
Richard Fontaine is the Chief Executive Officer of Centre for a New American Security. He served as President of CNAS from 2012–19 and as Senior Fellow from 2009–12. Prior to CNAS, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator John McCain and worked at the State Department, the National Security Council (NSC), and on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Fontaine served as foreign policy advisor to the McCain 2008 presidential campaign and subsequently as the minority deputy staff director on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Prior to that, he served as Associate Director for Near Eastern Affairs at the NSC from 2003–04. He also worked on Southeast Asian issues in the NSC’s Asian Affairs directorate. At the State Department, Fontaine worked for the deputy secretary and in the department’s South Asia bureau. Fontaine began his foreign policy career as a staff member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, focusing on the Middle East and South Asia. He also spent a year teaching English in Japan. Fontaine currently serves as executive director of the Trilateral Commission and on the Defense Policy Board. He has been an adjunct The Australian National University 3 of 4 professor in the security studies program at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. A native of New Orleans, Fontaine graduated summa cum laude with a BA in international relations from Tulane University. He also holds an MA in international affairs from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, and he attended Oxford University. He lives in Virginia with his wife and their four children.
Beth Sanner
Senior fellow at Harvard University Belfer Centre & former Deputy Director for National Intelligence Beth Sanner is a former American government official, having served as the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration. She was appointed to the position in May 2019 until March 2021. Currently Beth is a national security commentator for CNN. Beth is a Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, earning a Master of Science in National Security Strategy. She has a B.A. in Economics and International Affairs from the American University and currently is a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs. Beth has held several senior leadership positions in CIA's Directorate of Analysis, including leading the analytic effort on South Asia and serving as the deputy for analysis for Russian and European affairs. She also held analytic leadership roles for the Balkans, Central Europe, and Southeast Asia. Beth was the Director of the Career Analyst Program, the training program for all new CIA analysts. Sanner assumed leadership for the President's Daily Brief in April 2017. Previously she served as the Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council. Beth has also served in a wide range of leadership, staff, policy, and analytic positions in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Council, and the U.S. Department of State.
