Joshua T. White

Joshua T. White is a nonresident fellow in the Foreign Policy program at Brookings, and professor of the practice of international affairs at The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington. His research focuses on political and security issues in the Indian subcontinent, and defense technology and innovation trends in Asia.

He previously served at the White House as senior advisor and director for South Asian affairs at the National Security Council, where he staffed President Obama and the national security advisor on the full range of South Asia policy issues pertaining to India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Indian subcontinent, and led efforts to integrate U.S. government policy planning across South and East Asia.

Prior to joining the White House, he was a senior associate and co-director of the South Asia program at The Stimson Center and, previously, senior advisor for Asian and Pacific security affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a position he held in conjunction with an international affairs fellowship from the Council on Foreign Relations. While at the Pentagon he supported Deputy Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in advancing the U.S.-India Defense Technology and Trade Initiative, and advised on a broad set of defense issues related to the department’s rebalance to the Asia-Pacific.

He has spent extensive time in Asia, and has written on a wide range of issues including defense policy, electoral politics, Islamic movements, and nuclear deterrence. He has held short-term visiting research fellowships at the Lahore University of Management Sciences, the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan’s National Defence University, and the Institute for Defence and Strategic Analyses in Delhi; testified before Congress; and served on U.S.-sponsored election observer delegations to both Pakistan and Bangladesh. He is the author of “Vigilante Islamists: Religious Parties and Anti-State Violence in Pakistan” (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2025), and is currently writing a book on India’s defense technology ambitions. He graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Williams College with a double major in history and mathematics, and received his doctorate with distinction from Johns Hopkins SAIS in Washington.