Michael
Schiffer

Senior Fellow, National Security and International Policy

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Michael Schiffer

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Michael Schiffer is a senior fellow for National Security and International Policy at American Progress, focusing on Asia policy. Previously, he served as assistant administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Asia Bureau from 2022 to 2025. He is currently a partner at Scalare Advisors; an associate fellow in the Trade, Technology, and Geoeconomics Programme at the International Institute for Strategic Studies; and a distinguished nonresident senior fellow at the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA.

Prior to his role at USAID, he was a senior adviser and counselor on the Democratic staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. From 2009 to 2012, he served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia. Before joining the Department of Defense, he was a program officer at the Stanley Foundation, now the Stanley Center for Peace and Security, and a Council on Foreign Relations–Hitachi International Affairs Fellow. He also worked on the staff of Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), serving as her national security adviser and legislative director.

Schiffer received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and graduate degrees from the London School of Economics and New York University.

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Fact Sheet: 5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels Fact Sheet
The Houston skyline is seen from an oil refinery.

Fact Sheet: 5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels

Contrary to the Trump administration’s claims, fossil fuel industries have benefited heavily from government subsidies in the form of direct tax incentives, steep discounts on public lands, reduced permitting barriers, government services, and lack of accountability for their pollution and public health impacts.

5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels Report
Pumpjacks lift oil from wells at an oil field near Taft, California, on October 17, 2025.

5 Hidden Ways the Government Rigs the Market in Favor of Fossil Fuels

While renewables have received scrutiny from the Trump administration and congressional Republicans over subsidies, the administration’s narrative hides how fossil fuel industries reap the benefits of a distorted market that has made Americans pay more for polluting fossil energy for decades.

CAP Submits Comment Opposing Proposed Elimination of Significant Disproportionality Reporting Under IDEA Article

CAP Submits Comment Opposing Proposed Elimination of Significant Disproportionality Reporting Under IDEA

The Center for American Progress submitted a public comment to the U.S. Department of Education opposing its proposed revision to remove the requirement that states report data related to significant disproportionality under IDEA Part B.

Casey Doherty

Gun Violence in Rural America Is the Forgotten Public Health Epidemic Report
Silhouetted student in classroom beneath American flag

Gun Violence in Rural America Is the Forgotten Public Health Epidemic

Rural American communities are facing a growing crisis involving gun homicides and suicides that has long been ignored as narratives around gun violence have disproportionately and unjustly focused on urban communities.

Chandler Hall

Declining Global Demand for Oil and Gas Benefits Americans, and U.S. Policy Can Accelerate It Report
An oil pumpjack is seen near a field of wind turbines.

Declining Global Demand for Oil and Gas Benefits Americans, and U.S. Policy Can Accelerate It

Through strategic policy tools including trade, security, and foreign development assistance, the United States can accelerate the peak in global oil and gas demand—resulting in cost savings, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and less reliance on volatile energy markets for Americans.

Courtney Federico

Toolkit: Ensuring State Implementation of HHS’ Updated Section 504 Rule Report
A sign reading

Toolkit: Ensuring State Implementation of HHS’ Updated Section 504 Rule

This toolkit provides background on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ final rule on “Nondiscrimination on the Basis of Disability in Programs or Activities Receiving Federal Financial Assistance.” It also provides guidance for advocates on outreach to state attorneys general and officials, reminding them of compliance dates related to the rule.

Overturning D.C.’s Tax Law Would Infringe on Common State Tax Practices and Threaten the District’s Budget and Fiscal Autonomy Article
Traffic moves along Pennsylvania Avenue as the sun rises behind the U.S. Capitol.

Overturning D.C.’s Tax Law Would Infringe on Common State Tax Practices and Threaten the District’s Budget and Fiscal Autonomy

Overruling the D.C. Council’s tax law flouts a common approach to the tax code, depriving the jurisdiction of revenue, raising child poverty, and throwing the tax-filing system into disarray in the middle of tax season.

Lily Roberts, Corey Husak

CAP Comments on HHS’ Notice Rolling Back Progress Toward Improving Child Care Assistance for Low-Income Families Article

CAP Comments on HHS’ Notice Rolling Back Progress Toward Improving Child Care Assistance for Low-Income Families

The Center for American Progress submitted a comment letter to the Department of Health and Human Services opposing the agency's efforts to roll back progress toward paying child care providers more fairly and lowering costs for families.

Hailey Gibbs, Casey Peeks

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