Washington, DC -- This week, the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC) was delighted to welcome Alexander Gray as 'Senior Fellow for National Security Affairs.' Mr. Gray most recently served as Deputy Assistant to the President and Chief of Staff of the National Security Council (NSC) at the White House, where he was responsible for the management of the National Security Advisor’s Front Office and the budget, security, and personnel functions of the NSC. Previously, Mr. Gray served as Special Assistant to the President for the Defense Industrial Base at the White House National Economic Council (NEC). He was the principal Executive Office of the President official focused on the health and resiliency of the defense and manufacturing industrial base and U.S. maritime industry. Mr. Gray played a key role in Executive Order 13806, the first-ever whole-of-government assessment of the U.S. defense industrial base.
Additionally, Mr. Gray was the Director for Oceania & Indo-Pacific Security at the NSC, the first NSC Director ever focused primarily on Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. Mr. Gray represented the U.S. at the 2019 Presidential Inauguration in the Federated States of Micronesia; the 2019 Pacific Islands Forum in Tuvalu; and at numerous U.S.-Australia-New Zealand strategic dialogues and intelligence exchanges.
“Alex is, quite simply, one of the country’s leading practitioners on security policy and politics in Asia,” said AFPC Senior Vice President Ilan Berman. “His expertise on the Indo-Pacific, U.S.-China strategic competition, and defense modernization issues is extensive, and will be a major contribution to our own policy work in these areas. We are extremely fortunate to have him on board.”
