Paul Heer

About Paul Heer

Paul Heer served for 30 years as a specialist on East Asian affairs in the US intelligence community. He served on the staff of the president's daily brief and as a member of the senior analytic service at the Central Intelligence Agency before becoming the national intelligence officer for East Asia, a position he held from 2007 to 2015. He was a visiting intelligence fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and was elected a life member in 2001. He was the Robert E. Wilhelm Fellow at MIT's Center for International Studies, and later served as adjunct professor at the George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs. 

Heer is a recipient of the CIA's Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal and the DNI's National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Loras College, a Master of Arts in history from the University of Iowa, and a PhD in diplomatic history from the George Washington University. His book, Mr. X and the Pacific: George Kennan and American Policy in East Asia, was published in 2018.