Navin Girishankar

President, Economic Security and Technology Department
Navin Girishankar

Navin Girishankar is president of the Economic Security and Technology Department at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He leads a bipartisan team of over 40 resident staff and an extensive network of non-resident affiliates dedicated to providing independent research and strategic insights on economic and technology policies and their critical role in competitiveness as well as national security.

Prior to joining CSIS, Navin served as Counselor to the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Commerce on a wide range of domestic and international issues. In that role, he crafted the Department of Commerce’s place-based framework for industrial investments in chips, broadband, and other strategic technologies; its approach to U.S.-China economic relations; and U.S. economic diplomacy efforts with allies in the Indo-Pacific, Europe, and the Global South, including the U.S. commercial engagement strategy for the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and the first-ever Department-wide Africa strategy. Navin also helped architect the Department’s national security approach to critical and emerging technologies and threats covering investment screening, export controls, and strategic capital deployment.

Prior to his service in U.S. government, Navin held senior commercial roles at Bridgewater Associates, where he worked with founder Ray Dalio advising the largest institutional investors in the Middle East and Asia. Prior to his work in asset management, Navin spent over 20 years at the World Bank, where he held senior policy, country, finance, and evaluation roles. Over his career at the World Bank, Navin led a number of major initiatives including the Bank’s 2015 trade and competitiveness strategy, Expanding Market Opportunity and Enabling Private Initiative for Dynamic Economies; its 2011 flagship evaluation, World Bank Country-Level Engagement on Governance and Anticorruption; and the first-of-its-kind 2009 study, Innovating Development Finance: From Financing Sources to Financing Solutions. He also authored numerous articles and papers on economic, fiscal, and innovation policy; sustainable finance; governance and state-building; and evaluation.

He holds a master in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School and a bachelor of arts in economics with a minor in African and Middle East studies from Williams College. He is a percussionist in the Indian classical tradition and a student of various meditation traditions.

Programs & Projects

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Navin Girishankar's Commentaries and Reports

Photo: Mer_Studio/Adobe Stock

Photo: Mer_Studio/Adobe Stock

A Federal Statistical System for the Age of Economic Security

Statistics are not a technical afterthought—they are the bedrock of economic security. This report examines how federal data shape U.S. competitiveness, where gaps remain, and what it will take to build a statistical system fit for modern geopolitical competition.

Report by Chris Borges, Navin Girishankar, and Andrew Reamer — March 27, 2026

Navin Girishankar's Podcasts

Listen to the Betting on America Podcast:

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NSF's National Security Mission for the Twenty-First Century

Sustaining the National Science Foundation's national security mission into the twenty-first century will require complementing investments in basic research with accelerating innovation and translating discoveries into commercial and security advantages.

Event — April 3, 2026

EST Rapid Roundup: Unpacking the National AI Framework

The White House released its National Policy Framework for AI. Join CSIS's Navin Girishankar and Aalok Mehta to unpack the framework's implications for federal vs. state AI regulation, U.S.-China competition, and prospects for Congressional action.

Event — March 30, 2026

A Federal Statistical System for the Age of Economic Security

Statistics are not a technical afterthought—they are the bedrock of economic security. This report examines how federal data shape U.S. competitiveness, where gaps remain, and what it will take to build a statistical system fit for modern geopolitical competition.

Report by Chris Borges, Navin Girishankar, and Andrew Reamer — March 27, 2026

EST Rapid Roundup: Is the WTO at a Turning Point?

The 14th World Trade Organization Ministerial Conference opens in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Join CSIS to examine the issues that will shape its reform agenda, surrounding decision-making, the level playing field, and special treatment provisions for developing countries.

Event — March 25, 2026

LeadershIP 2026

Scholars, policymakers, and industry experts discuss cutting-edge policy issues at the intersection of innovation, intellectual property, and national security.

Event — March 25, 2026

Betting on America

The Imperative of Renewal featuring Senator David McCormick

Senator David McCormick (R-PA) joins Navin Girishankar on Betting on America to discuss the urgency of economic renewal in the face of myriad challenges to national power.

Podcast Episode by Navin Girishankar — March 25, 2026

Photo: iLab/CSIS