Ambassador Shear is a Senior Fellow at the Reischauer Center at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In 2022 the Government of Japan awarded him the The Order of the Rising Sun, the highest ordinarily given award for service to Japan. From 2017-2020 he was a Senior Advisor at McClarty Associates, a global strategic advisory firm. He performed the duties of Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from June 2016 to January 2017. He was the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs from September 2014 to June 2016.
