Michael is a consultant to the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense on future planning issues. He has advised the Pentagon for more than three decades, including a year as special assistant for Asian Affairs at the Net Assessment Office, two years as assistant undersecretary of defense for policy planning, in charge of preparing scenarios for long-term defense planning, and several years at the Rand Corporation and the National Defense University. From 1978-1990, he served on the U.S. Senate professional staff, including five years as U.S. Senate staff coordinator for the Congressional Task Force on Afghanistan and four years as national security advisor to the Senate Republican Steering Committee. Michael has also served on the faculties of UCLA, University of Southern California, and Georgetown University, teaching East Asian politics. He studied at Stanford, Harvard and Columbia Universities.