Anka Lee is a Biden-Harris Administration appointee, currently serving at the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asia. He advises senior defense leaders on all policy matters and bilateral security relations relating to Australia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, the Pacific Islands, and North Korea. Mr. Lee's first assignment in the Administration was at USAID, where he was the Deputy Assistant Administrator overseeing multilateral affairs and led global strategy and efforts relating to China across the Agency.His work in international affairs also included stints as a global policy manager at WhatsApp, the world's largest messaging app; 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 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. Before and in between his national security service, Mr. Lee worked in California politics -- and covered it as a journalist -- over the past 25 years. He served as State Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon's global policy advisor; advanced juvenile justice and housing policies as a legislative aide in the State Senate; and worked as a political news producer at KTVU-TV, the Fox affiliate in Oakland, for four years. He began his career in Richmond, California, as a community organizer, where he led a four-year grassroots campaign that ultimately convinced voters to approve a $40 million bond for the West Contra Costa Unified School District.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 and a product of East Bay public schools, Mr. Lee received his BA in American politics from the University of California, Berkeley, and MA in East Asian studies from Harvard University.