Pacific Forum International

Pacific Forum was founded in 1975 with a mission of establishing “a Forum in the Pacific under the auspices of the private sector for a continuing trans-Pacific private dialogue and consultation among the developing and developed countries of the Pacific area.”[2]

Pacific Forum’s founder, Lloyd R. Vasey (1917-2018), retired from the US Navy as a Rear Admiral in 1972 after serving as chief strategist (J-5) for US Pacific Command under Admiral John S. McCain Jr.[2]

From 1989 to 2018, Pacific Forum was an affiliate of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. During the 1989 merger, Pacific Forum retained its name, board, independent program agenda, and funding responsibility.[2] In 2018, Pacific Forum became a fully independent research institute with a full-time staff of 12, a rotating resident research fellow cohort of approximately 5-8 people, and an annual budget of approximately $2.8 million.[3]

The Pacific Forum’s Regional Engagement Program conducts outreach efforts to scholars and the public at large in Japan, South Korea, and Australia on various foreign and security policy issues in the Indo-Pacific. The Regional Engagement Program also focuses on nonproliferation in the Indo-Pacific, including in Myanmar.[4]

The Pacific Forum promotes strategic stability in the region primarily through a series of Track 1.5 dialogues focused on affirming US commitments to its alliance partners and maintaining a strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific.[5]

The Pacific Forum’s program on security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific is organized around its membership in the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP). Pacific Forum is one of the founding institutions of the CSCAP and manages its US member committee. The security cooperation program assesses and promotes security cooperation relating to the proliferation and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, strategic trade controls, maritime security, counter-terrorism, transnational crime, and cyber security.[6]

Pacific Forum Young Leaders with junior officials from North Korea

The Young Leaders Program was established in 2004 to train young professionals in international policy affairs at an early juncture in their careers. Currently, the organization’s network of Young Leaders consists of more than 1,000 members from 56 countries.[7]

Pacific Forum produces three regular publications from the organization’s own research as well as by external authors.[8] These publications include:

• Comparative Connections (http://cc.pacforum.org/)
• Issues and Insights (https://pacforum.org/programs/issues-insights)
• PacNet Commentaries (https://pacforum.org/programs/pacnet-commentary).

Pacific Forum’s funding comes from grants, foundations, governments, corporations and individuals. In 2019, Pacific Forum reported a budget of $2.8 million.[1]