David R. Stilwell served as the Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs from 2019 to 2021. Prior to that, he served in the Air Force for 35 years, beginning as an enlisted Korean linguist in 1980, and retiring in 2015 in the rank of Brigadier General as the Asia advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He served multiple tours of duty in Japan and Korea as a linguist, a fighter pilot, and a commander. He also served as the Defense Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, People’s Republic of China, 2011-2013. He earned a B.S. in History from the U.S. Air Force Academy (1987), a Master’s Degree in Asian Studies and Chinese language from the University of Hawaii at Manoa (1988) as an East-West Center participant.