Douglas H. Paal

Douglas Haines Paal
Occupation(s)	Foreign policy expert, diplomat, author
Years active	1980s–present
Known for	Vice president for studies at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; director of the American Institute in Taiwan (2002–2006); National Security Council official (1986–1993)
Spouse	Betsy A. Fitzgerald
Children	2 (Alice and Victoria)

Douglas Haines Paal () holds the position of vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, where he leads the Asia Program. From 2002 to 2006, he was the director of the American Institute in Taiwan. Between 1986 and 1993, Paal occupied significant posts on the National Security Council during the administrations of Presidents Reagan and George H. W. Bush, including serving as director of Asian Affairs and as a special assistant to the President. He acted as vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase International from 2006 until 2008 and is a member of the board of trustees for the Asia Foundation.

In the mid-1990s, Paal established the Asia Pacific Policy Center, a nonprofit research institution concentrating on U.S. policy toward Asia. The organization attracted criticism for functioning more like a consultancy or lobbying entity, primarily catering to government and corporate clients such as the Malaysian government, which provided multi-million-dollar funding. These issues contributed to delays in Paal’s confirmation as director of AIT.

Prior to his NSC service, Paal worked with the U.S. State Department Policy Planning Staff and at U.S. diplomatic missions in Singapore and Beijing. Additionally, he held roles as a senior analyst and Deputy National Intelligence Officer at the CIA. A Vietnam veteran in the U.S. Navy, he studied Japanese in Tokyo and earned both bachelor's and master's degrees in Chinese Studies and Asian History from Brown University, followed by a PhD in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University.

Paal has authored numerous articles on U.S.-Asia relations published in outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, South China Morning Post, The National Interest, Korea Times, among others, as well as producing various policy papers through the Carnegie Endowment.

In 2020, Paal was among more than 130 former Republican national security officials who publicly supported Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, expressing concerns about President Trump’s suitability for office.

He lives in Bethesda, Maryland with his wife, Betsy A. Fitzgerald. They have two daughters: Alice, who previously volunteered with the Peace Corps in Mauritania, and Victoria, a practicing attorney based in San Francisco.

Bibliography

• "The Rise of China and Alliance in East Asia: Implications for Diplomatic Truce," Keynote Remarks, 39th Taiwan-American Conference on Contemporary China, Taipei, Taiwan, December 9, 2010
• "China Shops at Pottery Barn," The National Interest, November 24, 2010
• "The Cheonan Attack," The National Interest, June 3, 2010
• "Obama Welcomes the Dalai Lama, Behind Closed Doors," South China Morning Post, February 18, 2010
• "The Clintons' High-Return Diplomacy," The New York Times, August 6, 2009
• "North Korea: Time for Strategy," Korea Times, April 3, 2009
• "Rice's ASEAN 'Gardening'," Wall Street Journal Asia, July 24, 2008
• "Asia--Shaping the Future," Policy Brief No. 62 (Carnegie, June 2008)
• "The United States in Asia in 1999: Ending the 20th Century," Asian Survey, Vol. 40, No. 1 (Jan./Feb. 2000), pp. 1–15
• "China and the East Asian Security Environment: Complementarity and Competition," in Living with China: U.S.-China Relations in the Twenty-first Century, Ezra F. Vogel, ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 1997)

External links

• Biography on the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace website
• Profile at the American Institute of Taiwan
• 1991 Announcement Regarding Appointment as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs
• Biography available through the Asia Foundation
• Biography presented in Chinese