Yusuke Saito

Yusuke Saito is a captain in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF). He currently serves as the Senior Legal Staff Officer, Maritime Staff Office, Ministry of Defense. His specialties are operational law and anti-submarine warfare. At sea, he served on JS Matsuyuki (DD-130), JS Atago (DDG-177), JS Kirisame (DD-104), JS Yamayuki (DD-129), JS Kirishima (DDG-174), and JS Yuudachi (DD-103). On Yuudachi he was the executive officer and deployed to the Gulf of Aden for anti-piracy operations from October 10, 2021, to April 11, 2022. From July 2022 to March 2023, he commanded JS Amagiri (DD-154).Ashore, his staff assignments included the Maritime Staff Office and the Office of Legal Affairs, Joint Staff. At the Joint Staff, his responsibilities included space law, LAWS, and the law of the sea.As a researcher, he served in the Operational Law Office at the Washington, D.C.–based think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS). As a military professor, he served at the Stockton Center for International Law, U.S. Naval War College. After his service at the U.S. Naval War College, he received the Distinguished Service Medal from the United States. He graduated from the National Defense Academy of Japan in 2004 and holds a Master of Science in Foreign Service from the Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University.