Kimberly Lehn is the Executive Director & Head of National Security and Defense at the Pacific Forum. As the operational leader of Pacific Forum, she leads the integration and execution of the organization’s strategy, operations, and impact—overseeing Directors and programs across the organization and aligning people, partnerships, and resources to deliver on Indo-Pacific priorities, including engagement with partners across government, industry, and international communities.
Kim also leads the broader National Security and Defense Program, which includes the Honolulu Defense Forum. Her work spans the critical issues shaping deterrence and alliance and partner integration in the Indo-Pacific, from gray zone competition and contested logistics to the defense industrial base, maritime, space, cyber, and emerging technologies such as AI and autonomy.
She is a national security professional with over 20 years of experience in the U.S. federal government and private sector. She is a senior advisor at a national security firm based in Washington, DC, and previously served in management and analytic roles at the Central Intelligence Agency as well as on assignments to the National Security Council and the Department of State, and as a professional staff member on the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee (HASC). On HASC, 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 publishes regularly on national security, Indo-Pacific, and defense and technology issues. She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington, DC.