Chris Johnstone is a senior advisor at The Asia Group and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Prior to joining CSIS, he served in government for 25 years in a variety of senior positions with a focus on U.S. policy toward Japan and the Indo-Pacific region. He served twice on the National Security Council, as director for East Asia under President Joe Biden and director for Japan and Oceanian affairs under President Barack Obama. In the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he led offices with responsibility for South and Southeast Asia and East Asia. He began his career as an intelligence officer in the Central Intelligence Agency.
Podcasts
Chris Johnstone on Japan’s Growing Security Leadership
- Japan
Recent Posts
Han Lin in Channel News Asia on China’s currency strategy: ‘Beijing sees currency power as a national-security issue’
February 11, 2026
Media Mentions
“As more countries adopt the yuan for investment and capital-raising, Beijing gains the ability to direct capital toward its strategic ...
Kurt Tong on Channel News Asia discussing Takaichi’s landslide win in Sunday’s lower house election
February 9, 2026
Media Mentions
Japanese voters have handed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi a powerful mandate, delivering her ruling coalition a crushing victory in Sunday’s ...
Rintaro Nishimura in CNN on Japan’s snap election: ‘From their perspective, the LDP had become too moderate under the last two prime ministers’
February 6, 2026
Media Mentions
“From their perspective, the LDP had become too moderate under the last two prime ministers,” said Rintaro Nishimura, a Tokyo-based ...
Geopolitics and Business in 2026 – Five Trends from TAG’s GeoCommercial Strategy Survey