Volunteer Leaders

John Bradford

Executive Director

John F. Bradford founded YCAPS with three friends and served at its first President. He currently lives in Yokosuka where serving the YCAPS team is his main activity. He is also an adjunct senior fellow in the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has also been a Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs Fellow in Jakarta and Tokyo. His research focuses on Asian security with special attention given to maritime issues and cooperative affairs. His written work can be found in journals such as Contemporary Southeast Asia, Asia Policy, Asian Security, Asian Survey, Naval War College Review, and Naval Institute Proceedings as well as in edited volumes, online publications and monographs published by leading international think tanks. A partial list of his publications can be viewed here.

Prior to becoming a full-time community builder, he spent more than twenty-three years as a U.S. Navy officer. As a Surface Warfare Officer, he served as Commanding Officer, Executive Officer, Combat Systems Officer, Chief Engineer, Navigator, First Lieutenant and Electronic Warfare Officer in ships forward-deployed to Japan. His staff assignments included service as Deputy Director for the U.S. Seventh Fleet Maritime Headquarters, as Regional Cooperation Coordinator for the U.S. Seventh Fleet, as Country Director for Japan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy), Asia-Pacific Politico-military Branch Chief on the Navy Staff and Assistant Plans officer at Commander, Naval Forces Japan.

John holds a PhD from King's College London. As an Olmsted Scholar, CDR Bradford studied in the Department of Political Science at Gadjah Mada University in Indonesia and completed an MSc (Strategic Studies) from RSIS. He is also a graduate of Japan’s National Institute of Defense Studies and the US Naval War College. He earned a BA (double major Asian Studies and Government) from Cornell University. He is particularly proud of the training he received as a midshipman aboard the Royal Malaysian Navy ship KD Rahmat.