Marvin Ott

Background and Education

Marvin C. Ott is adjunct lecturer and visiting scholar in Southeast Asia Studies at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, lecturer in East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins University, and public policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He was professor of national security policy at the National War College and faculty fellow at the Institute for National and Strategic Studies (National Defense University). He has held positions as associate professor at Mount Holyoke College, senior manager at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, adjunct professor at American University, senior East Asia analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, consultant on Japan to the National Academy of Sciences, chairperson for Southeast Asia at the Foreign Service Institute (US Department of State), senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and more recently as deputy staff director of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. He served in Vietnam as deputy province representative in Darlac during the war. He has authored more than 100 chapters, articles, and monographs on primarily East Asian, intelligence, and technology assessment topics. He has been a regular commentator on Business Asia (CNN), and, most recently, a commentator on National Public Radio and Radio Free Asia. He writes a biweekly foreign policy column for The Ellsworth American (Maine) and regularly lectures at the Foreign Service Institute and the Marine Corps University. He received the Meritorious Civilian Service and Meritorious Joint Unit Service awards from the US Department of Defense. He attended Chung Chi College, Hong Kong, and received an MA and PhD from Johns Hopkins SAIS.