Bruce Klingner has specialized in Korean and Japanese affairs for over three decades. From 2007-2025, he was the Senior Research Fellow for Northeast Asia at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center.
Mr. Klingner served for 20 years with the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency. From 1996 to 2001, Klingner was CIA’s Deputy Division Chief for Korea, responsible for the analysis of political, military, economic and leadership issues for the president of the United States and other senior U.S. policymakers. In 1993-1994, he was the chief of CIA’s Korea branch, which analyzed military developments during a nuclear crisis with North Korea.
He has testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, House Foreign Affairs Committee, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and the House Committee on Natural Resources.
He is a frequent commentator in U.S. and foreign media. His articles and commentary have appeared in major American and foreign publications and he is a regular guest on broadcast and cable news outlets.
Klingner is a distinguished graduate of the National War College, where he received a master’s degree in National Security Strategy in 2002. He also holds a master’s degree in Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College and a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Middlebury College in Vermont.
He has attained a third-degree black belt in taekwondo and first-degree black belts in hapkido and teuk kong moo sool (South Korean Special Forces attack techniques).