Staff
Cindy Zheng is a Policy Analyst on the Security and Foreign Affairs team. Prior to joining the Commission, she was a research assistant at RAND Corporation conducting research on U.S.-China competition across military, security, and political domains.
Staff
Benton Gordon is a Research Assistant on the Economics and Trade team. He previously worked as an editorial assistant at the National Bureau of Asian Research.
Staff
Matthew J. Dagher-Margosian is a Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team at the Commission.
Commission Member
Mike Kuiken serves as a Commissioner on the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission following nearly 23 years in the U.S. Senate. He is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution, an advisor to the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), and consults with CEOs, boards, and senior leaders across investment, AI, defense, technology, and multinational firms globally.
Mike previously served as Majority Leader Schumer's National Security Advisor, holding the Senate's most senior national security staff role. He also crafted and led the successful campaign that secured the passage of the CHIPS and Science Act and played a key role in establishing and managing the Senate's Artificial Intelligence Insight Forums.
Prior to joining Senator Schumer’s team, Mike spent more than 12 years as a professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Mike began his career on the staff of the late Senator Carl Levin.
Commissioner Michael Kuiken was appointed to the Commission by Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer for a term expiring December 31, 2025.
Staff
Zoe Merewether is Policy Analyst on the Economics and Trade team and joined the Commission as a Research Assistant in 2024. She has four years of experience in technology, media, and telecommunications corporate and investment banking at institutions focused on China and the broader APAC region. As a graduate student in international economics at the Hopkins Nanjing Center at Nanjing University, Zoe wrote and defended her thesis on Chinese foreign direct investment in Japan’s service economy in Mandarin Chinese.
Commission Member
Commissioner Jonathan Stivers is the U.S. Director of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation. He recently served as the Democratic Staff Director on the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the U.S. and Chinese Communist Party, a Professional Staff Member on the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, and as the Staff Director of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China. In the Obama Administration, Jon served as USAID Assistant Administrator for the Bureau for Asia managing a budget of approximately $1.2 billion in foreign assistance and led a staff of approximately 1,200 development professionals in 32 countries in East Asia and the Pacific Islands, South Asia, and Central Asia. Prior to that, Jon was a Senior Advisor to Speaker Nancy Pelosi responsible of foreign policy and trade issues including U.S.-China relations. He previously served as a USCC Commissioner from 2017-2018. Commissioner Stivers was appointed by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries for a term expiring December 31, 2025.
Commission Member
Commissioner Cliff Sims served as Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Strategy and Communications, helping to oversee the 18 agencies of the U.S. intelligence community (IC) and playing an integral role in shifting the IC's funding and focus toward the threat of a rising and adversarial China. Sims was previously Special Assistant to the President and Director of White House Message Strategy. He has appeared on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, CBS, and ABC, and his opinions on national security, foreign policy, and current events have been published in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, The National Interest, and numerous other publications. Commissioner Sims graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Alabama with a degree in Political Science and received an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Commissioner Sims was appointed by Speaker Mike Johnson for a term expiring December 31, 2025.