Ely Ratner
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs
Ely Stefansky Ratner was born in 1977. He earned an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and received a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Berkeley.
He served on the staff of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations when Joe Biden was chairman. He was an associate political scientist at the RAND Corporation for two years, after which he joined the State Department as a China desk officer. He later served as deputy national security advisor to then-Vice President Joe Biden. After President Obama’s administration, Ratner became a China fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, and later was the executive vice president and director of studies at the Center for a New American Security.
Ratner was nominated by President Joe Biden to be Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. He was confirmed by the Senate and sworn in by Secretary of Defense Austin in July 2021.
Ratner is married to Jennifer.
In the News…
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, Ely Ratner, reported that the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military, has engaged in a frequent pattern of coercive and risky behavior over the last two years that has put the U.S. at risk.
The Defense Department recently released photos and videos of 15 incidents that occurred since January 2022. The assistant secretary said that China’s reckless and aggressive behavior has primarily taken place in the region of the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific.
At a briefing, Assistant Secretary Ratner said that China “seeks to intimidate and coerce members of the international community to giving up their rights under international law. All of these examples we released… underscore the coercive intent of the PLA.”
