Dr. Paal is vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He previously served as vice chairman of JPMorgan Chase International from 2006 to 2008, and as unofficial U.S. representative to Taiwan as director of the American Institute in Taiwan from 2002 to 2006. He was on the National Security Council staffs of President Reagan and President George H. W. Bush between 1986 and 1993 as director of Asian Affairs, and then as senior director and special assistant to the president. Paal held positions in the policy planning staff at the State Department, as a senior analyst for the CIA, and at the U.S. embassies in Singapore and Beijing. He has spoken and published frequently on Asian affairs and national security issues. He studied at Brown and Harvard universities.