Dr John Bradford

John F. Bradford is the Executive Director of the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS). He is also a Japan Foundation Indo-Pacific Partnership Program Fellow and an adjunct senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

John’s research focuses on Asian security with special attention given to maritime issues and cooperative affairs. Prior to becoming a full-time community builder, he spent more than twenty-three years as a U.S. Navy officer. As a Surface Warfare Officer, he served as Commanding Officer and other wardroom positions in ships forward-deployed to Japan. His staff assignments included service as Deputy Director for the U.S. Seventh Fleet Maritime Headquarters, as Regional Cooperation Coordinator for the U.S. Seventh Fleet, as Country Director for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy), and Asia-Pacific Politico-military Branch Chief on the Navy Staff.

John holds a PhD from King’s College London. As an Olmsted Scholar, he studied in the Department of Political Science at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia and completed an MSc (Strategic Studies) from RSIS. He is also a graduate of Japan’s National Institute of Defense Studies and the US Naval War College.He earned a BA (double major Asian Studies and Government) from Cornell University. He is particularly proud of the training he received as a midshipman aboard the Royal Malaysian Navy ship KD Rahmat.