Dr. Matthew Spence

Dr. Matthew Spence is a Senior Fellow at Yale University’s Jackson Institute for International Affairs and Managing Director at Guggenheim Partners.  From 2012 to 2015, he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Policy, where he was the principal advisor to three Secretaries of Defense for U.S. policy towards the Middle East. He received the Secretary of Defense Award for Outstanding Public Service.

Prior to that, he served on the National Security Council staff as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for International Economic Affairs and as Senior Advisor to two National Security Advisors. He also served on the Obama-Biden Presidential Transition Team.

Dr. Spence is co-founder of the Truman National Security Project. He received his doctorate from Oxford University; J.D. from Yale Law School; and B.A. and M.A. from Stanford.