Elbridge A. Colby (born December 30, 1979) is an American national security policy professional who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development from 2017 to 2018 during the Trump administration.

[6] In 2015, Colby was considered for a top job in Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign, but was not hired after "prominent, interventionist neoconservatives" objected.

[4][7] In May 2017, Colby was appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development, a role in which he served into 2018.

[8] While Deputy Assistant Secretary, Colby served as the lead official in the development and rollout of the department's strategic planning guidance, the 2018 National Defense Strategy (NDS).

"[10] Politico reported that in re-orienting American defense resources away from the Middle East and towards China, Colby faced considerable bureaucratic infighting from U.S. Central Command and the Joint Staff, but received support from the Air Force and the Navy.

[15] He advocates for the U.S. to shift its military planning and resources to prepare for a conflict over Taiwan, and supports bolstering U.S. industrial capacity.

[4][15] In a Time article he co-authored with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, Colby wrote that: "[W]e need to be absolutely clear: Without question, the top external threat to America is China—by far.

[17] Foreign Policy describes him as "the loudest and perhaps most cogent voice in Washington advocating a complete shift away from Europe, NATO, and Russia and toward the growing challenge from China".

He says that if China is allowed to dominate Asia, it would severely diminish America's future prospects and freedom of action, push the American economy down the value chain, and lead the U.S. less resistant to Chinese pressure.

He advocates for a "strategy of denial" to deny regional hegemony to China and stopping or defeating a potential invasion of Taiwan.

He believes an attack on Taiwan would lead to a "limited war" which would seek to cause the least upheaval in the region, with no motivation on either side to escalate; he calls on the U.S. to prepare for this scenario.

[25] Colby supports a reduction of U.S. military presence in the Middle East, a region which he described as "relatively unimportant" from a geopolitical standpoint.