Derek Grossman

Derek Grossman is Professor of the Practice of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California. At USC, he teaches courses on Indo-Pacific security and political affairs, US foreign policy, and US national security. 

Professor Grossman is also Adjunct Senior Fellow with the Indo-Pacific Security Program for the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). He previously served as Senior Defense Analyst at RAND and Professor of Policy Analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. Before RAND, he served over a decade in the U.S. 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. Professor 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, Professor Grossman served at the National Security Agency (NSA). He also worked at the CIA on the President’s Daily Brief staff. 

Professor 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. Professor 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. 

Professor Grossman 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.