The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has named Jim Baker as its new Senior Fellow for Strategic Competition, where he will focus on the evolving dynamics of U.S.-China relations, artificial intelligence, and the future of defense innovation.
Baker, a longtime national security strategist, brings nearly two decades of senior leadership experience from the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He recently served as Director of the Office of Net Assessment. In that role, Baker led efforts to produce deep comparative assessments of U.S. military capabilities and those of its competitors, shaping decisions by the Secretary of Defense and other senior leaders. His tenure at the office included work that looked decades ahead, connecting emerging technological and geopolitical trends to today’s defense choices.
Over his 17 years in defense strategy roles, Baker also served as Strategist to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Principal Deputy Director for Strategy, and Director of the Chairman’s Action Group. Earlier in his career, he applied his engineering expertise as Chief Engineer for the F-35 Mission Systems Product Team in the Joint Strike Fighter Program Office, where he helped guide complex defense technology programs.
His academic background is equally rooted in technical and strategic disciplines. Baker holds advanced degrees in National Security Studies from the National War College, Military Operational Art and Science from the U.S. Air Command and Staff College, Operations Research and Systems Engineering from the University of Florida, and Electrical and Electronics Engineering from Michigan State University.
Baker’s government service has been recognized across administrations; he is a two-time recipient of the Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the highest honor for career civil servants, and has also received the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joint Distinguished Civilian Service Award.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)