CDCA 2025 Eastern Defense

Michael Dahm
Senior Resident Fellow for Aerospace and China Studies
Mitchell Institute


J. Michael Dahm is the Senior Resident Fellow for China Studies at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies where he focuses on open-source intelligence and the challenges posed by China’s military. Prior to joining Mitchell, Dahm worked for federally funded research organizations, the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and the MITRE Corporation, providing intelligence analysis and research support to advanced defense programs. He retired from the U.S. Navy having served for over 25 years as an intelligence officer in several diverse assignments including combat tours in the Balkans and Southwest Asia. He has focused on Indo-Pacific security issues since 2006 when he was assigned to the U.S. Pacific Command. He later served as the Assistant Naval Attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China. In his final tour, he was the Senior Naval Intelligence Officer for China at the Office of Naval Intelligence. Dahm received a B.A. in international relations from the University of Southern California. He earned an M.S. in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University (NIU). He has taught graduate courses at NIU and is currently a Lecturer at the Elliot School of International Affairs at the George Washington University where he teaches a course on China’s military.

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