THE NEW COLD WARRIOR

CHINA IS RACING TO UNSEAT THE UNITED STATES AS THE WORLD'S TECHNOLOGICAL SUPERPOWER

- ISSIE LAPOWSKY

JAKE SULLIVAN DID HIS BEST TO STOP THEM.

JAKE SULLIVAN WAS STANDING IN THE MIDDLE OF his office, which occupies an airy, sunlit corner of the West Wing, looking like he didn't quite know what to do with his hands. He was taking me on a perfunctory three-minute tour of the space, even though the office tour is, perhaps, the most tired trope of the magazine profile-and, I'd been warned, Sullivan is not a fan of magazine profiles. At least, not the ones that are about him.