Brent Sadler joined The Heritage Foundation after a 26-year Navy career that included operational tours on nuclear-powered submarines, service on the personal staffs of senior Defense Department leaders, and diplomatic assignments in Asia. As a Senior Research Fellow, he focuses on maritime security and the technologies shaping future naval forces, especially the U.S. Navy. A 1994 honors graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in Systems Engineering (robotics) and a minor in Japanese, he later served as a 2004 Olmsted Scholar in Tokyo and earned graduate degrees from Jochi University and the National War College, where he graduated with distinction. Throughout his career, he established the Navy Asia Pacific Advisory Group, helped develop the Defense Department’s Third Offset, and held key Pacific Command roles advancing ASEAN maritime domain awareness, the Maritime Security Initiative, U.S.–Japan defense guideline revisions, and the Indo-Pacific rebalance. He later served as Senior Defense Official and Defense and Naval Attaché in Malaysia, where he helped coordinate the response to the USS McCain collision, expanded U.S. military access and cooperation, and managed relations during Malaysia’s 2018 political transition. His final Navy assignment was in the China Branch of the Navy Staff at the Pentagon.
