ORF America hosted a group of young professionals for an after hours discussion with Sajit Gandhi and Charles Morrison. Sajit Gandhi is the Deputy Staff Director at the House Foreign Affairs Committee (Democrats), and has spent over a decade advising the committee and staffing the chair on US Foreign Policy towards South Asia. Charles Morrison serves as Policy Director for Chairman Mike Gallagher (R-WI) on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. Previously, he covered national security issues as Rep. Gallagher’s Legislative Director and at the American Enterprise Institute.

The purpose of #2 The Indo- Pacific Edition of this series was to address the various pieces of legislation by Congress and initiatives by the Biden Administration, to make sense of the big picture with respect to the U.S Indo-Pacific Strategy. It encouraged an across the aisle discussion, from senior congressional staffers whose committees are becoming increasingly consequential to long term strategy in the Indo-Pacific. 

The discussion reviewed the year since the launch of the Indo-Pacific Strategy and Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)  in 2022. Particularly, when members of Congress think about the Indo-Pacific, what are they - and their constituents - most interested or worried about. Speakers explored legislation in the pipeline that might address concerns, and corresponding touch points across the aisle. The conversation also addressed converging and diverging partnerships in the Indo-Pacific. 

This was the second convening of the series hosted by ORF America for young professionals in Washington, DC.  The series offers participants the opportunity to informally engage with distinguished foreign policy professionals,  as well as a platform to network with peers. Participants included Washington, DC’s best and brightest from the U.S. Government, Congressional Staff, think tanks, graduate programs, and the private sector.