National security leader Christine Wormuth has been appointed director of the International Security and Defense Policy Center at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.
Wormuth has an extensive background in defense and national security, including service as under secretary of defense for policy (2014-2016); deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans and forces (2012-2014); special assistant to the president and senior director for defense at the National Security Council (2010-2012); and principal deputy assistant secretary for homeland defense (2009-2010).
“Christine Wormuth is a national leader in forging America’s defense and national security agenda,” said Jack Riley, vice president and director of RAND’s National Security Research Division. “We expect she will help broaden RAND’s research portfolio, deepen its connection to policy makers and attract new talent.”
As under secretary, Wormuth shaped the U.S. military’s counter-ISIS campaign, strengthened defense relationships with allies and partners in the Asia-Pacific, adjusted U.S. force posture in Afghanistan and placed greater emphasis on deterrence of Russia and China. In 2014, she led the Quadrennial Defense Review. At the National Security Council, Wormuth played a key role in the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance and led a comprehensive effort to update nuclear weapons planning and employment guidance. Her career in government is bookended by positions at two national security research institutions.
The RAND International Security and Defense Policy Center conducts in-depth analysis to help policy leaders make decisions about major national and international security challenges.
Wormuth will be located in the RAND Washington office.
Wormuth joins RAND from the Atlantic Council, where she directed the Adrienne Arsht Center for Resilience. Before her service in government she was a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Wormuth holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland and a bachelor’s degree from Williams College.
