Jamestown Welcomes New Board Member Brigadier General (ret.) Robert Spalding

Age: 5 years

The Jamestown Foundation is proud to announce the addition of retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Robert Spalding to its Board of Directors.

Jamestown President Glen Howard stated: “The addition of retired General Spalding to the Jamestown board will benefit the foundation immensely and allow us to tap into his insight and expertise obtained when he helped shape U.S. China policy at the White House. He also played  an important intellectual role in forging the U.S. National Security Strategy released by the White House on December 18, 2017 where he was the chief architect of the strategic competition segment of the National Security Strategy.”

Robert Spalding retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Brigadier General, after more than 25 years of service. He was a China strategist for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, as well as a senior defense official and defense attaché to China. As Senior Director for Strategy to the President, he was the chief architect of the framework for national competition in the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy. He is the author of the forthcoming book Stealth War: How China Took Over While America’s Elite Slept, to be released October 1, 2019.

During his time with the military, Spalding developed a keen understanding of the Chinese Communist Party’s political and economic influence in the areas of finance, trade, investment, manufacturing and the Internet, as well as earned praise for his ability to forecast global trends and develop innovative solutions. His unique military service, coupled with an academic background in quantitative and geopolitical risk, has enabled him to understand risk associated with today’s rapidly changing business environment and help identify opportunities in global markets.

Spalding holds a doctorate in economics and mathematics from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He was a distinguished graduate of the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, and is fluent in Chinese Mandarin.