Suzanne Vares-Lum became the director of the Daniel. K Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in January 2025. Prior to this role, she served as President of the East-West Center. Born and raised in Hawaiʻi, she served 34 years in all three components of the U.S. Army—the Army National Guard, Regular Army, and Army Reserve—retiring as a Major General in 2021. In her last military assignment, Vares-Lum spent 5 ½ years at the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, where she served as the Mobilization Assistant to the Commander, including periods as acting Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander. As a [...]

Colonel Jeffrey Digsby is the Deputy Dean of Admissions and Business Operations at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies (DKI APCSS). Col. Digsby enlisted in the Air Force in 1994 and earned his Air Force commission through Officer Training School in 2001. He is a U.S. Air Force Weapons School graduate and is a Master Air Battle Manager with more than 4,400 flying hours in the E-3 AWACS and E-8C Joint STARS command and control aircraft. He has deployed worldwide in support of Operations NORTHERN and SOUTHERN WATCH, ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM, NEW DAWN, [...]

Mr. Russell Bailey is the Acting Director of the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies. Before this appointment, Mr. Bailey’s distinguished career as a civil servant included positions within the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) Policy. He has served as the Principal Director for Homeland Defense Integration and Defense Support of Civil Authorities (HDI&DSCA), the Principal Director for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia, the Director for Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and Antarctica, and a Senior Policy Analyst in the Secretariat for Special Operations. A retired U.S. Army officer with nearly three decades [...]