The Korea Factor in US-China Strategic Competition

Markus V. Garlauskas will be discussing the evolution of the strategic challenge posed by North Korea and the implications for East Asian regional stability and US-China strategic competition in the years ahead. He will outline the changes in regime's leadership structure and decision-making under Kim Jong Un, North Korea's advancing capabilities, and the evolving relationship between North Korea and the key players in the region in recent years. He will also address China's strategy toward the peninsula, including such issues as its efforts to prevent the deployment of US THAAD battery to South Korea, and the implications for the ROK-US Alliance and US interests.

Markus V. Garlauskas served as the National Intelligence Officer for North Korea on the National Intelligence Council at the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from July 2014 to June 2020, as a member of the Senior National Intelligence Service. He led intelligence community strategic analysis on North Korea, while serving as the DNI's senior subject matter expert on North Korea. He and his team developed written and graphic intelligence products to provide IC-coordinated analysis in support of policy formulation, and he personally wrote key "NIO Perspective" memos reflecting his own analysis. He briefed the President, other top officials and Congress to inform the interagency policy process, crisis reactions and key leader views on Korea. He provided direct analytic support for the Presidential transition, as well as the Hanoi and Singapore summits, and received a National Intelligence Analysis Award for his role in the preparations for the Hanoi summit.

From 2002 to 2014, Mr. Garlauskas served on the staff of United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea in Seoul, including as Chief of Intelligence Estimates and Chief of the Strategy Division. In the latter capacity, he served as the principal civilian advisor to three successive commanders on strategic political-military issues and worked closely with South Korean counterparts on strategies for countering North Korean missiles and WMD. For his work in Korea, he received the Joint Civilian Distinguished Service Award, the highest award for a civilian from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.