Dennis P. Halpin brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and personal contacts to Poblete Analysis Group. He retired from the Foreign Service after serving overseas and at State Department headquarters for 26 years., served as a senior professional staff member on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, and is currently a Visiting Scholar at the U.S.-Korea Institute, School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University.
Dennis spent over a decade, until early 2013, as a principal advisor to multiple Chairmen, a Ranking Member, and other Members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee on issues relating to the Asia Pacific region, Peace Corps and Consular Affairs.
Before his Congressional service, Dennis had a career in the Foreign Service that spanned close to three decades and covered multiple issues. He was an Analyst for United Nations issues, Office of Global Issues, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State, Washington, D.C.; Nonimmigrant Visa Unit Chief, Consular Section, U.S. Embassy, Beijing, China, where he supervised approximately ten American and twenty Chinese national employees; and Unit Chief of External Political Affairs, Political Section, U.S. Embassy, Beijing, China.
Dennis was an unofficial U.S. Government observer in September 1996 to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP)-sponsored investment seminar in the Free Economic Trade Zone (FETZ) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea), Rajin-Sonbong, DPRK; served as U.S. Embassy coordinator for the Fourth United Nations Conference on Women held in Beijing, August – September 1995; and was responsible for documenting for the U.S. Embassy the first Summit Meeting between President William J. Clinton and Republic of Korea President Kim Young Sam, the Blue House, Seoul, Korea in 1993.
Previously, Dennis served as Principal Officer and Consul, U.S. Consulate, Pusan, Korea; Political officer responsible for Asian issues (primarily Afghanistan and Cambodia), Office of United Nations Political Affairs, Department of State, Washington, D.C.; Cambodia analyst, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, Department of State, Washington, D.C.; and as a consular officer at the U.S. Consulate General, Toronto, Canada.
In October 1979, he received the Speaker of the South Korean National Assembly’s cup (first prize) in the Korea Herald newspaper’s Korean language speech contest for foreigners, Seoul, Korea and, that same year, served as Blue House U.S. Embassy site officer for the official banquet hosted by South Korean President Park Chung Hee for U.S. President Jimmy Carter. His career as an FSO began as a consular officer and a political officer at the U.S. Embassy, Seoul, Korea. From 1971-73 as a U.S. Peace Corps English language instructor, Kyunghee University and Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Dennis has a diverse educational background, having graduated from the Korean Language Institute (KLI) at Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea; obtained a Master of the Arts degree in Teaching English as a Second Language from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; holds a Master of Science degree from Columbia University School of Journalism, while studying one year of conversational Japanese at Columbia University.
From November 1970 – February 1971, Dennis studied Korean culture, history, and language at the Peace Corps Training Center in Hilo, Hawaii, and the East/West Center, University of Hawaii, Honolulu. He graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science and history from the Loyola University of Chicago.
He is fluent in Korean and Mandarin Chinese.