Patrick M. Cronin

Asia-Pacific Security Chair

patrick-cronin

At A Glance:

Patrick M. Cronin is the Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute. His research analyzes salient strategic issues related to US national security goals in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.

Biography

Patrick M. Cronin is the Asia-Pacific security chair at Hudson Institute. Dr. Cronin’s research analyzes salient strategic issues related to US national security goals in the Indo-Pacific region and globally. His current writing touches on protecting national interests and world order despite intensified great-power competition, the enduring North Korea problem, and other state and non-state challenges.

Previously, he was the senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS); senior director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies (INSS) at the National Defense University, where he simultaneously oversaw the Center for the Study of Chinese Military Affairs; director of studies at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS); senior vice president and director of research at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS); and director of research at the US Institute of Peace. During the George W. Bush administration, he was confirmed by the US Senate as the third-highest ranking official at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He served as an intelligence officer in the US Navy Reserve. He has been an adjunct faculty professor at the University of Virginia, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and Georgetown University.

Dr. Cronin has a rich and diverse background in Asia-Pacific security and US defense, and foreign and development policy. Before leading INSS, Dr. Cronin served as the director of studies at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). At IISS, he also served as editor of the Adelphi Papers and as the executive director of the Armed Conflict Database. Before joining IISS, Dr. Cronin was senior vice president and director of research at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

In 2001, Dr. Cronin was confirmed by the United States Senate to the third-ranking position at the US Agency for International Development (USAID). While serving as assistant administrator for policy and program coordination, Dr. Cronin also led the interagency task force that helped design the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).

From 1998 until 2001, Dr. Cronin served as director of research at the US Institute of Peace. Prior to that, he spent seven years at the National Defense University, first arriving at INSS in 1990 as a senior research professor covering Asia and long-range security issues. He was the founding executive editor of Joint Force Quarterly, and subsequently became deputy director and director of research at the Institute. He received the Army’s Meritorious Civilian Service Award upon departure from NDU in 1997.

He has also been a senior analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a US Naval Reserve intelligence officer, and an analyst with the Congressional Research Service and SRI International. He was associate editor of Strategic Review and worked as an undergraduate at the Miami Herald and the Fort Lauderdale News.

Dr. Cronin has taught at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program, Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and the University of Virginia’s Woodrow Wilson Department of Government.

He read international relations at St. Antony’s College, the University of Oxford, where he received both his MPhil and DPhil degrees, and graduated with high honors from the University of Florida. He is a frequent contributor to The Straits Times (Singapore) and DongA Ilbo (South Korea), and is a regular member of the Defense & Aerospace Report’s “Washington Roundtable” podcast. He also writes for other leading publications and regularly conducts television and radio interviews.

Events
21
June 2023
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
US Leadership in Tech Diplomacy: A Conversation with Ambassador Nathaniel C. Fick
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Nathaniel C. Fick
Patrick M. Cronin
Joe Biden looks at a quantum computer with IBM CEO Arvind Krishna as he tours the IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, New York, on October 6, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
21
June 2023
In-Person Event | Hudson Institute
US Leadership in Tech Diplomacy: A Conversation with Ambassador Nathaniel C. Fick

Please join Hudson Institute Asia-Pacific Security Chair Dr. Patrick Cronin for a conversation with Ambassador Fick on the intersection of strategy, technology, and diplomacy.   

Joe Biden looks at a quantum computer with IBM CEO Arvind Krishna as he tours the IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, New York, on October 6, 2022. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Nathaniel C. Fick
Patrick M. Cronin
28
April 2023
Past Event
Special Envoy Yun on US Engagement in the Pacific
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Joseph Yun
Patrick M. Cronin
.
28
April 2023
Past Event
Special Envoy Yun on US Engagement in the Pacific

Ambassador Joseph Yun discusses the Pacific states’ concerns, as well as whether Congress will muster bipartisan support to ensure the renewal of these long-term compacts of free association.

.
Featured Speakers:
Ambassador Joseph Yun
Patrick M. Cronin
02
March 2023
Past Event
Building a More Resilient Indo-Pacific Security Architecture: A Conversation with DoD’s Ely Ratner and Lindsey Ford
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Ely Ratner
Lindsey W. Ford
Patrick M. Cronin
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
An F/A-18E Super Hornet from the “Mighty Shrikes” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 94 prepares to launch from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz is in U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Rowe)
02
March 2023
Past Event
Building a More Resilient Indo-Pacific Security Architecture: A Conversation with DoD’s Ely Ratner and Lindsey Ford

Hudson Institute will host Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Dr. Ely Rattner and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia Lindsey W. Ford for a conversation on the Department of Defense’s vision for building a more resilient security architecture in Southeast Asia.

An F/A-18E Super Hornet from the “Mighty Shrikes” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 94 prepares to launch from the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). Nimitz is in U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David Rowe)
Featured Speakers:
Dr. Ely Ratner
Lindsey W. Ford
Patrick M. Cronin
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
05
October 2022
Past Event
Deterrence and Indo-Pacific Security
Featured Speakers:
Lt. Gen. In-Bum Chun
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Soo Kim
Moderator:
Patrick M. Cronin
A North Korean flag in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong is seen from a South Korea's observation post inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on October 4, 2022. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
05
October 2022
Past Event
Deterrence and Indo-Pacific Security

Please join Hudson Institute for a discussion featuring Lt. Gen. In-Bum Chun, Republic of Korea Army (ret.); Rebeccah Heinrichs of Hudson; and Soo Kim of RAND that will address the key issues of this timely subject in a discussion moderated by Hudson Asia-Pacific Security Chair Patrick Cronin.

A North Korean flag in North Korea's propaganda village of Gijungdong is seen from a South Korea's observation post inside the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on October 4, 2022. (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)
Featured Speakers:
Lt. Gen. In-Bum Chun
Rebeccah L. Heinrichs
Soo Kim
Moderator:
Patrick M. Cronin
.
Caption
China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin takes a question at a briefing about the phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing on April 26, 2023. (Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Images)
patrick-cronin
patrick-cronin
Asia-Pacific Security Chair
Podcast
1 Min Read