CGA Team
Brian Harding,
Senior Advisor
Brian Harding is a leading expert on Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands, and Japan, with nearly 20 years of experience at premier institutions in Washington, DC. His extensive networks across Asia and with policymakers in Washington provide clients with deep insights into regional dynamics and strategies for engagement.
From 2020 to 2025, Harding led a major expansion of programming on Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands at the U.S. Institute of Peace (USIP), including the establishment of new programs and offices in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Papua New Guinea. Previously, he served as deputy director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Washington’s premier think tank program on Southeast Asia, where he managed projects on the region’s digital economy, energy, and security. At the Center for American Progress, he was director for Asia policy, overseeing research with Japanese and Chinese counterparts and advising U.S. political candidates on Asia and national security.
From 2009 to 2013, Harding worked in the Office of the Secretary of Defense as country director for Asia-Pacific security affairs, managing defense relations with key U.S. partners in Southeast Asia and Oceania, including Indonesia, Singapore, and Australia. He contributed to major defense initiatives, including agreements to station U.S. Marines in Darwin, Australia, and Littoral Combat Ships in Singapore, and facilitated the first major defense sales to Indonesia in decades.
In addition to his role at Cambridge Global Advisors, Harding is a non-resident senior fellow at Sasakawa USA and a senior advisor at the U.S.-Philippines Society. He holds degrees from Middlebury College and The George Washington University, has studied at universities in Indonesia and Japan, and was a Fulbright research fellow in Indonesia. His commentary has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, and Washington Post, among other outlets.