Derek Grossman

Derek Grossman is a senior defense analyst at RAND focused on a range of national security policy and Indo-Pacific security issues. He is particularly interested in China’s relationships with Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, India, Pakistan, the Pacific Islands, and the Koreas.

Grossman served over a decade in the Intelligence Community (IC), where he served as the daily intelligence briefer to the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and to the assistant secretary of defense for Asian & Pacific Security Affairs. Grossman wrote an award-winning paper for the IC’s “Galileo Competition,” which solicits innovative ideas to optimize IC enterprise management practices. Prior to DIA, Grossman served at the National Security Agency (NSA). He also worked at the CIA on the President’s Daily Brief staff.

Grossman is widely quoted regionally and globally. He has interviewed with BBC, Bloomberg, LA Times, CNN, Washington Post, NPR, CNBC, South China Morning Post, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and many others. Grossman has published dozens of commentaries and journal articles, including for Asia Policy, China Brief, ChinaFile, Defense Dossier, Foreign Policy, Global Taiwan Brief, International Security, Journal of International Security Affairs, Newsweek, PacNet, Strategic Studies Quarterly, Studies in Intelligence, The Diplomat, The Hill, The National Interest, War on the Rocks, and World Politics Review.

Grossman is an adjunct professor at the University of Southern California and a regular contributor to The Diplomat. He holds an M.A. from Georgetown University in U.S. national security policy and a B.A. from the University of Michigan in political science and Asian studies.