Mike Studeman

Mike Studeman, a retired two-star admiral, is a non-resident senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies' Defense and Security Department. As a flag officer, he led thousands of intelligence professionals as commander of the Office of Naval Intelligence, director of intelligence for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, and director of intelligence for U.S. Southern Command. He also served as the director of national intelligence’s national intelligence manager for global maritime matters and as director of the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office. Earlier in his career, he commanded the Joint Intelligence Operations Center for U.S. Cyber Command and a Naval Global Communications Center. He also served as special assistant to the U.S. Fleet Forces commander, vice chief of naval operations, and chief of naval operations. In 2005, he was appointed by President George W. Bush as a White House Fellow. After retiring in 2023, he served as the inaugural national security fellow at the MITRE Corporation. He continues to serve as a senior adviser to multiple consulting firms and sits on several high-tech company boards. He is a visiting fellow at his alma mater, the College of William & Mary. He is an honors graduate in Mandarin Chinese from the Defense Language Institute, a distinguished graduate of the National War College, and a distinguished graduate in Asian affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School. In addition to frequent public speaking, writing, consulting, and coaching, he published Might of the Chain: Forging Leaders of Iron Integrity in 2024.