Retired Lieutenant General Charles “Hoop” Hooper is a member of the board and is based in the Washington, D.C./Baltimore area. He is the former director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA). This included oversight of 20,000 people globally and over $50 billion (USD) in annual sales. In that capacity, he served as the Department of Defense expert on U.S. security assistance funding and U.S. foreign military sales.
Charles Hooper is recognized as one of America’s most distinguished soldier-diplomats and known as a conceptual and analytical thinker. He is a consummate negotiator and trusted adviser who effectively navigates complex, sensitive issues and challenges and is a catalyst for collaboration and cooperation.
Charles is a member of the board of directors for the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and a senior fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. He is also a senior nonresident scholar at the Atlantic Council and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace as well as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).
Charles is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point (BS) and Harvard University Kennedy School of Government (MPA), where he was awarded the Don K. Price Award for Academic Excellence and Public Service. He also holds a certificate in Chinese language and literature from the British Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School and returned to Harvard University as a postgraduate research fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs to study U.S.-China military relations.