Ambassador (ret.) Edgard D. Kagan is a senior advisor at The Asia Group and currently serves as Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). A former career member of the U.S. Foreign Service, he brings more than three decades of diplomatic experience focused on the Indo-Pacific.
Most recently, Ambassador Kagan served as U.S. Ambassador to Malaysia from December 2023 to February 2026 under the Trump and Biden administrations. During his tenure, he advanced U.S.–Malaysia cooperation across trade, investment, energy, security, and people-to-people ties, while engaging closely with federal and state leaders amid rising U.S. corporate interest in Malaysia’s semiconductor, data infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and energy sectors. He also supported high-level diplomatic engagements, including President Trump’s October 2025 visit to Kuala Lumpur for the 47th ASEAN Summit.
Prior to his ambassadorship, Ambassador Kagan served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania at the National Security Council, where he helped shape U.S. policy toward the Indo-Pacific. His previous senior postings include Chargé d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India, as well as Charge d’Affaires and Deputy Chief of Mission at the at the U.S. Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He has served as Consul General in Mumbai, and Deputy Director of the Washington Office of the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. Ambassador Kagan also held roles at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing as a political officer and chief of the political external unit. Previously, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific in the State Department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs. His overseas assignments have also included Australia, Israel, Hungary and Cote d’Ivoire.
Ambassador Kagan is the recipient of the Presidential Meritorious Award and numerous State Department performance awards. He speaks Mandarin Chinese and French, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from Yale University.