Anka Lee serves as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He is responsible for advising senior department leadership on all policy matters pertaining to the development and implementation of defense strategies, plans, policies, and bilateral security relations for the East Asia region (Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and North Korea).

Before joining the Pentagon, Mr. Lee was a Deputy Assistant Administrator at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), overseeing multilateral affairs and development cooperation. During his first two years at USAID, he also served as the Senior Advisor on China, leading and coordinating global strategy and efforts relating to China across the Agency. Before joining the Biden-Harris Administration, he was a Global Policy Manager at WhatsApp.

From 2017-2020, Mr. Lee served as Director of International Relations at the California State Assembly, leading the legislature’s engagement with foreign leaders and advising Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon on international issues relevant to California. He also created new bilateral initiatives with the governments of Mexico, Canada, Japan, and Germany to empower state elected officials to address shared policy challenges with foreign counterparts.

His work in international affairs also included stints as Senior Director for China at Albright Stonebridge Group, a global strategy firm led by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and former National Security Adviser Samuel Berger; as an intelligence analyst studying the security dynamics in the Asia Pacific for the U.S. military; as a Congressional staffer advising members on human rights and rule of law issues in China; and, as a journalist covering democratic movements and politics in Asia. Prior to working in foreign affairs, Mr. Lee was a political reporter in California and served as a legislative aide at the California Legislature.

His written and on-air commentaries have appeared in The Atlantic, Bloomberg, The Diplomat, Just Security, Foreign Policy, NBC News, POLITICO, Time, and San Francisco Chronicle. He is a Fellow and former Co-Lead of the Asia Expert Group at the Truman Project. A first-generation college graduate, Mr. Lee received his BA in American politics from the University of California, Berkeley, and MA in East Asian studies from Harvard University.