Kimberly Lehn

Prior to joining Beacon, Ms. Lehn served in the U.S. Government for nearly 18 years. She most recently served as the Chief of Staff of the China Mission Center and previously the East Asia Pacific Mission Center at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), a role in which she helped drive the strategic objectives and vision of the two centers, including its strategy, organizational structure, and overall management of the executive staff.

Ms. Lehn previously served as a professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). In this role, she was the lead full committee policy adviser on the China and the Indo-Pacific portfolio, and led the committee’s oversight over U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, U.S. European Command, U.S. Northern Command, and later the U.S. Strategic Forces Command. In these roles, Ms. Lehn focused on the national security challenges facing the United States, particularly strategic competition with China and Russia, and the important role alliances and partnerships play to build collective security. She also led the development of the Pacific Deterrence Initiative, a bipartisan legislative initiative to elevate the Department of Defense’s resource priorities on the Indo-Pacific theater, and played a central role in the committee’s oversight and implementation of the National Defense Strategy.

Prior to working on the HASC, Ms. Lehn was a senior analytic manager and analyst at the CIA on East Asia. She served on detail assignments to the National Security Council as the Associate Director for East Asia and to the Department of State as a political analyst at the Bureau of Intelligence and Research.

She holds a master’s degree in International Politics and a bachelor’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies C.L.E.G: Communication, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government at the American University. She is a Fulbright Scholar and David L. Boren National Security Education Program recipient to South Korea.