Security and Geopolitics

Joshua Stone is a program coordinator for the GMF Indo-Pacific Program. Based in Washington, his portfolio encompasses Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. He manages the Japan Trilateral Forum, Korea Trilateral Forum, and the Taiwan-US Policy Program, among other programs and projects.

Prior to joining GMF, Joshua worked as a senior researcher at the defense section of the Embassy of Japan in the United States, supporting US-Japan defense coordination and cooperation. Previously, he worked as an open-source intelligence analyst contracted with the US Department of Defense and as a program coordinator with the Japan Desk at the Department of State. In 2023, he was a nuclear public policy fellow with the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center.

Joshua received his bachelor's degree from the University of Virginia and has studied abroad at Yonsei University and Doshisha University. He is a heritage Korean speaker, fluent in Japanese, and a student of Mandarin Chinese.

Sophie Arts is a fellow with GMF’s Geostrategy North team, where she leads the workstream’s research on Arctic security and geopolitics. As part of her portfolio, she covers Nordic security, North American homeland defense, and regional cooperation with allies and partners.

In 2017, Arts joined GMF's Washington, DC-based security and defense policy team, focusing on transatlantic security within and outside NATO. Her prior research covered the alliance’s partnerships and flexible formats, the impact of emerging technologies on NATO defense and deterrence, the dynamics of escalation within the cyber domain, and strategic stability in a multipolar world. 

Arts previously worked as a research assistant at the Atlantic Council and as a trainee in GMF’s Brussels office. She has a background in political journalism, writing for Spiegel Online International and Kantar Media. Originally from Germany, she holds a master’s degree from Humboldt University in Berlin and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Freiburg. She spent two years studying in the United States, at Connecticut College and at the University of Virginia, where she also worked as a research assistant in the media studies department and in the university’s Center for Politics, supporting Larry J. Sabato's work on "The Kennedy Half-Century".