William Henagan is a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He is an expert on U.S. industrial policy and economic security issues, as well as trade, infrastructure, development, competition, shipbuilding, and investment matters.

A former director for international economics on the National Security Council and the National Economic Council, Henagan spearheaded the development of ICE Pact, the trilateral partnerships among the United States, Canada, and Finland, as well as other shipbuilding, infrastructure, economic statecraft, and maritime industrial policy work ranging from tariff design to U.S. government investment strategy. As director for critical infrastructure on the National Security Council, Henagan was also one of the lead authors of the “National Security Memorandum on Critical Infrastructure Security and Resilience,” which was the first major update to U.S. critical infrastructure policy in over a decade. He previously authored the Guidebook to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, an extensive readers guide to the seminal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to help state, local, tribal, territorial government, and other partners navigate and implement the $1.2 trillion spending package. Henagan has held multiple other economic policymaking roles at the White House and the Department of Commerce across the Barack Obama and Joe Biden administrations.

Prior to government, Henagan worked as a consultant for McKinsey & Company and currently serves as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Navy Reserve. He was also a technical advisor for the Polar Institute at the Wilson Center. Henagan holds graduate degrees in finance, social policy, and political science from the University of Virginia, University College London, and the University of Oxford, where he was a Jefferson and Marshall Scholar.