ABOUT THE AUTHOR At the time of writing, Brandon Paladino was a Federal Executive Fellow at the Brookings Institution’s Center for 21st Century Security and Intelligence. He is a career civil servant with over a decade of experience assessing political, leadership, and foreign policy developments across multiple countries in East and Southeast Asia. Brandon earned a Bachelor of Science in international affairs from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Arts in East Asian studies from Columbia University. He also completed The George Washington University’s graduate certificate program in political psychology. Brandon was a David L. Boren National Security Education Program scholar from 2004-05. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to express gratitude to everyone at the Brookings Institution for the resources and support that helped make this research project possible. A special thanks is in order to these colleagues who assisted with the production of this paper along the way and provided valuable feedback that helped enrich the analysis: Jonathan Stromseth, Richard Bush, Chris Meserole, Hunter Marston, and Anthony Yazaki, Rachel Slattery, and Anna Newby. Brookings recognizes that the value it provides is in its absolute commitment to quality, independence, and impact. Activities supported by its partners reflect this commitment. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings research are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars.