Panel II: Administration Perspectives
Mr. Bruce S. Lemkin
Deputy Undersecretary of the Air Force for International Affairs
Bruce S. Lemkin, a member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force, International Affairs, Washington, D.C. He provides oversight and guidance for international policy and programs supporting national security objectives through politico-military affairs, security assistance programs, technology and information disclosure, education and training, cooperative research and development, and attaché affairs.
Mr. Lemkin graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1971 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering. He completed Navy Nuclear Power Training in 1972 and entered the Navy's Nuclear Submarine Program. He served in six nuclear submarines, including command of the attack submarine, USS Hyman G. Rickover, and the Trident ballistic missile submarine, USS Michigan. He served in numerous Pentagon assignments, including those on the Navy Staff as Nuclear Officer Program Manager, Deputy Director of Investment and Development, Head of Nuclear Affairs and International Negotiations, and Director and Deputy Director of the Strategy and Policy Division. As Chief of the Asia-Pacific Division with the Joint Staff, he negotiated landmark agreements with China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines.
Mr. Lemkin also served as a Senior Fellow at The Atlantic Council of the United States. In 1999, he retired from active duty and became the chief negotiator and special assistant and senior policy adviser to the Executive Director of The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, the international consortium carrying out the terms of the nuclear non-proliferation regime, the 1994 Agreed Framework with North Korea. Subsequently, Mr. Lemkin worked for an investment management firm as the Chief Operating Officer and Business Unit Manager, and later, was an international consultant. In 2002, he returned to the federal government and served as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Financial Management, until his present assignment. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations and of the U.S. Naval Institute, as well as a member of the Air Force Association.