Juan Cruz is a specialist in national security and a strategist in hemispheric geopolitics. He currently serves as a senior advisor at Dinámica Américas, where he advises companies and organizations, and, since 2019, has also been a nonresident senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). In this role, he contributes to work on national security issues, strategies to combat transnational organized crime, corruption, democratic backsliding as a source of regional instability, and the influence of China, Russia, and other extra-hemispheric powers in the region.
Cruz’s professional career spans more than three decades in the U.S. government. From 2017 to 2019, he served on the National Security Council as senior special assistant to the president of the United States for hemispheric affairs. In this capacity, he directed the interagency decision-making process, advised the president directly on national security and interactions with foreign leaders, and worked with governments across the region to develop shared approaches to pressing challenges. He played a central role in shaping U.S. policy toward Venezuela and Cuba and in advancing a comprehensive hemispheric strategy.
Earlier assignments included senior positions in Washington, D.C., and at U.S. embassies abroad, where he gained extensive experience in national security and intelligence to counter transnational threats. He has held posts in Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. While in Colombia, he helped achieve historic successes against drug cartels and insurgent groups. Throughout his government service, Cruz led teams that supported, executed, and shaped U.S. foreign and national security policy.
Cruz speaks fluent Spanish and Portuguese. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, a master’s degree in international public policy from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, and an executive leadership certificate from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He also studied at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
