Speakers

Honorable Christine Wormuth was confirmed by the U.S. Senate and appointed as the 25th Secretary of the U.S. Army May 28, 2021. The Secretary of the Army is the senior civilian official within the Department of Defense responsible for all matters relating to the U.S. Army.

Prior to confirmation, she was the Director of the International Defense and Security Center at the RAND Corporation where she was a frequent writer and speaker on foreign policy, national security and homeland security issues.

Prior to RAND, she served in several roles during the Obama Administration. From December 2010 until August 2012 she was a special assistant to the president and senior director for Defense at the National Security Council. Wormuth then served as deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Strategy, Plans, and Forces, and led the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review. From 2014-2016 she served in DOD as Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where she advised the Secretary of Defense on the full range of regional and functional national security issues.

Wormuth entered the government as a Presidential Management Intern and began her public service career in the Policy Office of the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1996 through 2002.

After leaving government, she worked in the private sector on defense issues, and then was a Senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies for five years.

Wormuth holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and fine art from Williams College and a Masters of Public Policy from the University of Maryland.

She is married to a retired Navy officer and has two daughters.

All times are presented in the host university’s local time zone.