South China Sea NewsWire Advisory Board
Lucio Blanco Pitlo III is a foreign policy and security analyst specializing on Southeast Asian affairs, maritime security, connectivity and great power competition in the region.
Ray Powell is the Director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency initiative of the Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation at Stanford University. He retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2021 after 35 years, including postings as the Air Attaché to Vietnam and Senior Defense Official/Defense Attaché to Australia.
Sumathy Permal is a Senior Researcher with the Centre for the Straits of Malacca at the Maritime Institute of Malaysia. Her current focus is on strategic and defense issues in the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca.
Professor Dr. Yann-huei Song obtained his LL.M. and J.S.D degrees from U.C. Berkeley, the United States and Ph.D. degree from Kent State University , Kent, Ohio, the United States. He was a research fellow at the Institute of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (1993-2021). His research areas include the international law of the sea and national ocean policy. He is now a board member of the Chinese Society of International Law (Taiwan) and the R.O.C. Association for Ocean Policy and Maritime Affairs. He had participated in the Indonesian-hosted Informal Workshop on Managing Potential Conflicts in the South China Sea and visited 7 times of the largest naturally-formed island — Taiping Island (Itu Aba) — of the Spratly archipelago.
Benjamin Blandin has been working as a consultant in strategy and innovation for 15 years in both industry and consulting firms. He holds an MA in strategy consulting from EM Lyon (France), an MA in Geopolitics from the French Institute of Geopolitics and graduated from the Paris Military Academy (maritime strategy program). Benjamin has earned a Ph.D. from the Paris Catholic University in geopolitics focusing on the phenomena of AZAD, hybrid warfare and grey area tactics in the South China Sea.
South China Sea NewsWire Staff
James Borton is a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins/SAIS Foreign Policy Institute and the author of Dispatches from the South China Sea: Navigating to Common Ground. He contributes opinions for The Washington Times, Asia Times, Asia Global Online, Geopolitical Monitor, East Asia Forum and the South China Morning Post. James is Editor-in-Chief of the South China Sea NewsWire.
Jing Ge is a Research Associate at the South China Sea NewsWire and a Policy Analyst at the Global Security & Economic Policy Think Tank. She is currently a PhD candidate in International Relations and an instructor at Florida International University. Her research fields include International Organizations and International Law, Indo-Pacific regional security, and emerging technology. She has written for The Diplomat, The National Interest, 9DASHLINE, East Asia Forum, The Interpreter, Australia Outlook, and American Purpose. Her academic work has also been published in many international peer-reviewed journals.
Alyssa I. Agard is the Manager of Strategic Outreach and Partnerships at the South China Sea NewsWire and President and CEO of Agard Research Associates Inc., a nonprofit policy research institute. She is also a Master of Public Policy candidate with a research focus on foreign affairs and defense policy. Her scholarship examines deterrence, space security, and PLA doctrine, and her applied work spans crisis wargaming on Indo-Pacific contingencies and simulation modeling of Chinese military operations across the maritime, space, and information domains.
Hallie Kaith A. Pampolino is the Social Media Intern (Fall Semester) at the South China Sea Newswire. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in History and Political Science from the University of the Philippines (UP) and was selected for a DiscoverNUS Scholarship as an Exchange Student at the National University of Singapore for a semester abroad. Having been born and raised in the Philippines, she founded the League of Diplomatic Students of UP (LEADS) and served as Vice Chairperson in Politically Inclined Students of UP (POLIS), roles that shaped firsthand perspectives to her coverage on geopolitical issues spanning the Global West, Global South, and ASEAN.
Fiona Hinrichsen is the Managing Editor at the South China Sea NewsWire and a summer intern with Worldway New Immigrant Alliance in Boston, MA. She is pursuing a bachelor’s degree in International Relations, concentrating on East and Southeast Asia, at Tufts University and will study Chinese at the University of Oxford this fall. Fiona notably served as Executive Editor of The Tufts Daily and Publicity and External Relations Chair of Sino-US Relations Group Engagement (SURGE). Raised in China and Vietnam, her work focuses on geopolitics between these regions, with an emphasis on human-centered stories and cultural relations.
Atif A. Choudhury is the Special Projects Editor at the South China Sea NewsWire and a foreign affairs and international development professional specializing in South Asia, governance, and strategic competition. He is Founder and CEO of the U.S.-Bangladesh NextGen Fellowship & Policy Institute (USBNFPI), Academic Relations Strategist at the Qatar Cultural Attaché Office, a Non-Resident Fellow at the Vanderbilt Center for Global Democracy, and a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Previously, he worked with the University of South Carolina’s Rule of Law Collaborative and The Carter Center’s China Program, supporting initiatives on governance, think tank capacity building, and PRC activities in Africa and South Asia. His analysis has appeared in The Diplomat, LSE International Development Blog, Oxford Political Review, The US–China Perception Monitor, Dhaka Tribune, HuffPost, and other outlets.
Jill E. Thompson is a Database Intern at the South China Sea Newswire and the Program Director of the Indo-Pacific Undergraduate Forum. She is entering her final year at the University of St Andrews, where she is pursuing a BA in International Relations and Chinese Studies. Her research interests include maritime security in the South China Sea, space policy, and cross-Strait relations.
