Oriana Skylar Mastro is an American political scientist currently serving as a Courtesy Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stanford University and Center Fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. She is also a non-resident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a strategic planner at the US Indo-Pacific Command. Her research focuses on Asia-Pacific security.
In 2008, while a doctoral student at Princeton, Mastro met with then deputy commander of the then U.S. Pacific Command (now U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, USINDOPACOM) Lt. Gen. Dan P. Leaf at a conference where she was invited to present research she and her colleagues at Carnegie's China program conducted earlier about the "military balance of power across the Taiwan Strait." Leaf suggested that she enlist in the U.S. military after learning about her plan to pursue a summer internship with USINDOPACOM to better research how the military dealt with issues in the Asia-Pacific.[1]
Despite initially deciding to continue with an internship instead, Mastro enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in the fall of 2008 and later started officer training to commission as a second lieutenant.[1]
In 2013, Mastro was appointed assistant professor of security studies at Georgetown's Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service,[5] and in 2020, she was appointed a center fellow at Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.[6][7]
In the meantime, Mastro has also continued her military service in the U.S. Air Force Reserve,[2] including by serving as a China Strategist in the Strategic Studies Group from 2010 to 2013, serving as an Asia-Pacific Strategist in the Asia-Pacific Cell, serving as a Reserve Air Attaché for Asia-Pacific Region from 2014 to 2016, serving as a Political Military Affairs Strategist for the Pacific Air Forces from 2016 to 2020, among others. She was named the Air Force's Individual Reservist Company Grade Officer of the Year in both 2016 and 2022.[5][8][9]
The Military Challenge of the People's Republic of China, in Defense Budgeting for a Safer World: The Experts Speak, Hoover Institution, November 1, 2023[13][14]
Project Atom 2023: A Competitive Strategies Approach for U.S. Nuclear Posture through 2035, Center for Strategic and International Studies, September 30, 2023 (co-authored with Heather Williams, Kelsey Hartigan, Lachlan MacKenzie, Robert Soofer, Tom Karako, Franklin Miller, Leonor Tomero, and Jon Wolfsthal)[15]
Deepening US-Taiwan Cooperation Through Semiconductors, in Silicon Triangle: The United States, Taiwan, China, and Global Semiconductor Security,Hoover Institution, July 18, 2023 (co-authored with Kharis Templeman)[16][17]
The U.S. Can Still Avoid War With China Over Taiwan, The New York Times, October 16, 2023[19]
Talking to the enemy: Explaining the emergence of peace talks in interstate war, Journal of Theoretical Politics, July 4, 2023 (co-authored with David A. Siegal)[20]
Testimony of Dr. Oriana Skylar Mastro before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Hearing on “A New Approach for An Era of U.S.-China Competition,” March 13, 2019[25]
