William Wise
Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
William M. Wise is Practitioner-in-Residence, Retired at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Chairman of the Southeast Asia Forum, an independent organization dedicated to promoting the study of Southeast Asia at colleges, universities and think tanks in the mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Previously, he was Nonresident Fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center where he developed the Southeast Asia Forum.
Professor Wise is also President of The Sorrento Group, an international consulting firm based in Washington, DC. The Sorrento Group advises clients on foreign policy and national security matters, primarily in Asia.
From 2005 to 2019 Professor Wise managed the Southeast Asia Studies program at SAIS and taught courses on Southeast Asia and defense, foreign policy and intelligence in Asia. Prior to teaching at SAIS, he was Adjunct Professor of the Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University. He was a Public Policy Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington in 1999.
Professor Wise’s government experience spanned more than three decades. He was Deputy National Security Advisor to Vice-President Al Gore; Chief of Policy at the U.S. Pacific Command (now U.S. Indo-Pacific Command); and Deputy Director for Policy Planning, East Asia & Pacific Region, Office of the Secretary of Defense. Earlier, he served in various positions in the U.S. Intelligence Community in Washington and overseas. He retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Colonel.
