Thomas Fingar

Tom Fingar

Thomas Fingar, PhD

  • Shorenstein APARC Fellow
  • Affiliated Scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions

Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
Stanford University
Encina Hall, C-327
Stanford, CA 94305-6055

(650) 723-9149 (voice)
(650) 723-6530 (fax)

Biography

Thomas Fingar is a Shorenstein APARC Fellow in the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. He was the inaugural Oksenberg-Rohlen Distinguished Fellow from 2010 through 2015 and the Payne Distinguished Lecturer at Stanford in 2009.

From 2005 through 2008, he served as the first deputy director of national intelligence for analysis and, concurrently, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Fingar served previously as assistant secretary of the State Department’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research (2000-01 and 2004-05), principal deputy assistant secretary (2001-03), deputy assistant secretary for analysis (1994-2000), director of the Office of Analysis for East Asia and the Pacific (1989-94), and chief of the China Division (1986-89). Between 1975 and 1986 he held a number of positions at Stanford University, including senior research associate in the Center for International Security and Arms Control.

Fingar is a graduate of Cornell University (A.B. in Government and History, 1968), and Stanford University (M.A., 1969 and Ph.D., 1977 both in political science). His most recent books are From Mandate to Blueprint: Lessons from Intelligence Reform (Stanford University Press, 2021), Reducing Uncertainty: Intelligence Analysis and National Security (Stanford University Press, 2011), The New Great Game: China and South and Central Asia in the Era of Reform, editor (Stanford University Press, 2016), Uneasy Partnerships: China and Japan, the Koreas, and Russia in the Era of Reform (Stanford, 2017), and Fateful Decisions: Choices that will Shape China’s Future, co-edited with Jean Oi (Stanford, 2020). His most recent article is, "The Role of Intelligence in Countering Illicit Nuclear-Related Procurement,” in Matthew Bunn, Martin B. Malin, William C. Potter, and Leonard S Spector, eds., Preventing Black Market Trade in Nuclear Technology (Cambridge, 2018)."

publications

Journal Articles
October 2014

China's Rise, Japan's Quest, and South Korea-US Co-operation

Author(s)
cover link China's Rise, Japan's Quest, and South Korea-US Co-operation
Journal Articles
January 2013

Ties that Bind: Strategic Stability in the U.S.–China Relationship

Author(s)
cover link Ties that Bind: Strategic Stability in the U.S.–China Relationship
Journal Articles
April 2012

Intelligence as a Service Industry

Author(s)
cover link Intelligence as a Service Industry

Current research

In The News

Fingar NIC op ed
Commentary

Five years later, a stronger intelligence community, Tom Fingar argues

cover link Five years later, a stronger intelligence community, Tom Fingar argues
Nuclear Summit
News

CISAC experts command airwaves as Obama rolls out nuclear agenda

cover link CISAC experts command airwaves as Obama rolls out nuclear agenda

Selected Multimedia