Lea Thome

Lea Thome worked as a Program Manager with AidData's Tracking Underreported Financial Flows (TUFF) Unit from 2024 to 2026. She is an international security scholar and China specialist, with a special focus on infrastructure investments, military modernization, and civil-military fusion. She holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and International Relations with a minor in Chinese language and culture from the University of Rochester and a master's degree in Global Affairs from Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University. Before joining AidData, she was the Schwarzman Fellow at the Wilson Center's Kissinger Institute on China and the United States and a Visiting Fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research.