Christine Wormuth

is a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program and a frequent writer and speaker on foreign policy, national security, and homeland security issues. Prior to rejoining CSIS, she was under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) from 2014 to 2016. In that role, she advised the secretary of defense on the full range of regional and functional national security issues. As USDP, she frequently represented DoD at the White House and spent considerable time on the counter-ISIS campaign, the rebalance to Asia, counterterrorism operations, and U.S. defense relations with countries in Europe and the Middle East. From 2012 to 2014, Ms. Wormuth was deputy under secretary of defense for strategy, plans and forces and led the 2014 Quadrennial Defense Review process. She served as special assistant to the president and senior director for defense at the National Security Council (NSC) from December 2010 until August 2012, where she was the primary senior liaison from NSC to the Pentagon on defense issues.