Zack Cooper Joins GMF as Co-Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy

WASHINGTON. D.C.  – The German Marshall Fund of the United States is pleased to welcome Dr. Zack Cooper to the organization as co-director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy (ASD). In this role, Cooper will work with ASD Director Laura Rosenberger in leading ASD’s team dedicated to combatting authoritarian efforts to undermine democracies.

Cooper’s expertise in the politics and policy of Asia, specifically in Chinese economic statecraft and coercion, will support ASD’s efforts to develop policy recommendations and analysis of authoritarian threats to democratic societies.  In joining ASD as the new co-director, Cooper will continue the bipartisan collaboration that has defined ASD since its inception.

“I am so pleased to have Zack join the Alliance for Securing Democracy’s as its new co-director,” said Laura Rosenberger, Director of the Alliance for Securing Democracy. “At a time when authoritarian regimes like Russia and China continue to undermine democratic institutions around the world, it is crucial that we take a bipartisan approach to combatting the ever-evolving tools and tactics of the authoritarian playbook. Zack’s passion for our work, expertise in Chinese economic coercion and national security experience in the Bush Administration make him the perfect partner to advance the mission of ASD and the German Marshall Fund.”

Cooper will continue in his role as a research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where he studies U.S. defense strategy and alliances in Asia. In addition, he is an adjunct assistant professor in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, an associate at Armitage International, and a member of the board of advisors of the Center on Economic and Financial Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Cooper served in the Pentagon and White House under the George W. Bush administration, first as special assistant to the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy for policy and then as assistant to the deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism at the National Security Council. He has also been the senior fellow for Asian security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and a research fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Cooper received his Ph.D., M.A., and M.P.A. from Princeton University and B.A. from Stanford University.

Cooper will succeed Jamie Fly, now president and CEO of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, in the role of ASD’s co-director.