Lyle J. Morris

Senior Policy Analyst, RAND Corporation

Lyle J. Morris is a senior policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, where he focuses on PRC foreign and military policies and security developments in East and Southeast Asia. From 2019 to 2021, Morris served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) as the Country Director for China, advising OSD on defense relations between the Department of Defense and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and on Indo-Pacific maritime security. He received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service for his service. Morris has over a decade of experience researching and leading projects on Asia-pacific security issues and has published recently on maritime security in the Asia-Pacific, gray zone competition in the Indo-Pacific, and PRC military modernization.

Prior to joining RAND, Morris was the 2010–11 Next Generation Fellow at the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR) and a research intern with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). From 2004 to 2008, he lived in Beijing, China, where he studied Mandarin Chinese at Peking and Tsinghua Universities and later worked at Dentsu Advertising and the China Economist Journal.

Morris received his M.A. in international affairs from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) and B.A. in international business from Western Washington University.

Location: Arlington, Virginia, United States