Hoover Institution

09/16/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/16/2025 11:42

Mobilizing For A Free, Open, And Secure Indo-Pacific: A Strategic Reassessment

This work assesses the current security landscape in the Indo-Pacific region and how the Quad can be utilized to address these challenges. War with China is the most prominent threat to the region and concerns all four members. There are a variety of steps that the group could take short of formalized military cooperation that in part or in whole could contribute to deterring a regional conflict.

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Mobilizing for a Free, Open, and Secure Indo-Pacific: A Strategic Reassessment by Hoover Institution

Key Takeaways

  • The purpose of this assessment is to raise the alarm about a grave threat to regional security in the Indo-Pacific that the United States can no longer manage alone.
  • Coordination among partners may appear difficult or unlikely, but it is especially important during a time of geopolitical turbulence; it's the thing China fears the most.
  • The aim of the work is to highlight, especially to officials and publics in the Quad countries, that they could have a role to play.
  • The Quad is not the only tool available; this piece is framed as a strategic assessment of the risks of war and ways to deter it rather than as specific recommendations for the Quad.
About the Author

Lavina Lee is the director of the Foreign Policy and Defence Program at the United States Studies Centre (USSC), where she leads research on the Australia-US alliance and strategic issues facing the Indo-Pacific region. Before joining the USSC, she was an associate professor and chair of the discipline of security studies at Macquarie University in Sydney. She holds a PhD in international relations from Sydney University.

C. Raja Mohan is a distinguished fellow with the Council for Strategic and Defense Research, Delhi. He is a visiting research professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies, National University of Singapore, and was previously the director. Mohan was the founding director of Carnegie India in Delhi. He holds a PhD in international relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Satoru Mori is the professor of contemporary international politics at the Faculty of Law, and the deputy director of the Keio Center for Strategy at Keio University. Mori currently chairs the Japan-US alliance project at the Nakasone Peace Institute. He is a former Japanese Foreign Ministry official and holds a PhD from the University of Tokyo.

Stacie L. Pettyjohn is a senior fellow and director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security. She recently chaired the Total Force Integration Subcommittee of the Reserve Forces Policy Board, a federal advisory committee within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. She holds a PhD in foreign affairs from the University of Virginia.

Arzan Tarapore is a visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution who focuses on Indian military strategy and regional security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Prior to his scholarly career, he served for thirteen years in the Australian Department of Defence, including operational deployments and a diplomatic posting to the Australian Embassy in Washington, DC. He holds a PhD in war studies from King's College London.

Admiral James O. Ellis (ret.) is an Annenberg Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, where he leads the Global Policy and Strategy Initiative. He retired as president and chief executive officer of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations in 2012 and completed a distinguished thirty-nine-year Navy career in 2004, during which he served as the commander of the US Strategic Command.

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