Joshua Cartin

Josh M. Cartin retired in 2023 after 20 years of US federal government service, occupying senior policy positions in Washington and overseas. He served in the National Security Council’s East Asia Directorate under two different presidential administrations, finishing as Deputy Senior Director for Asia in 2017-2020. Mr. Cartin played a key role in drafting the US Strategic Framework for the Indo-Pacific, coordinating the US government’s shift to a competitive China strategy, and working with US allies and partners to improve economic competitiveness and resilience through concerted action on global investment and secure technology supply chains.

Mr. Cartin was detailed to the Pentagon in 2021-2022, where he served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Joint Staff Director for Strategy, Plans, and Policy (J5), promoting political-military coordination in responding to the country’s major national security challenges, including the US and allied military retrograde from Afghanistan, and support for Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion. In 2020-2021, Mr. Cartin was the first Managing Director for the Indo-Pacific at the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), where he put in place a team of investment professionals charged with catalyzing more private sector investment in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and the Pacific Islands.

Mr. Cartin served as Chief of the Economic Section at the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) in 2013-2016, strengthening the US-Taiwan economic and technology partnership through launching innovative programs such as the Global Cooperation & Training Framework and Digital Economy Forum, and improving the market environment for US exporters and investors through the US-Taiwan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). In 2010-2013 Mr. Cartin was the founding officer and Deputy Representative at the United States Mission to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, where he conceptualized and led the major multilateral component of the U.S. Asia rebalance. Mr. Cartin served in 2016-2017 as Special Assistant to the Under Secretary for State for Political Affairs with responsibility for the East Asia, economic, energy, and cyber portfolios. He served in Foreign Service positions at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, PRC, U.S. Embassy in Quito, Ecuador, and as senior political officer in the Department of State’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. His final State Department position was Chief of Staff at the Global Engagement Center, the US government’s integrated counter-disinformation and counter-propaganda effort.

Upon retirement from the U.S. government, Mr. Cartin became a partner in Washington D.C..-based commercial intelligence and strategic advisory firm TD International (TDI), where he is focused on helping clients navigate complex transactional and operational challenges in the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr. Cartin speaks Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and Indonesian with proficiency. He is an Adjunct Professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security, and served as a member of the 2023-2024 U.S. Export-Import Bank’s Advisory Subcommittee on Strategic Competition with the People’s Republic of China. Mr. Cartin earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Master of Strategic Studies at the United States Army War College. He is a proud native of Tucson, Arizona.