The Hon. Rebecca Hersman

The Honorable Rebecca Hersman is Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and has previously worked at the Project on Nuclear Issues at CSIS, DOD, Council on Foreign Relations, and House Armed Services Committee. She specializes in defense strategy and capabilities, defense and security, geopolitics and international security, and weapons of mass destruction proliferation.

The Honorable Rebecca Hersman is Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, where she leads more than 2,200 military and civilian experts operating in over 50 countries, and executes over $2.4B to provide the Department of Defense’s Service Components, Combatant Commands, the U.S. Interagency, and international partners with leading-edge capabilities to counter and deter adversary use of Weapons of Mass Destruction and emerging threats

Prior to assuming her current position, Ms. Hersman served as the Director of the Project on Nuclear Issues and senior adviser with the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Hersman previously worked at the Department of Defense, where she served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction. She led DOD policy and strategy to prevent WMD proliferation and use, reduce and eliminate WMD risks and respond to WMD dangers. She served as DOD’s principal policy advocate on issues pertaining to the Biological Weapons Convention, Chemical Weapons Convention, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. Prior to joining DOD, Hersman was a Senior Research Fellow with the Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction at the National Defense University. Her primary projects focused on the role of DOD in mitigating the effects of chemical and biological weapons attack, concepts and strategies for eliminating an adversary’s WMD programs, as well as proliferation issues facing the United States. She also founded and directed the WMD Center’s Program for Emerging Leaders, an initiative designed to shape and support the next generation of leaders from across the U.S. government with interest in countering weapons of mass destruction.

She previously held positions as an International Affairs Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, a special assistant to the undersecretary of defense for policy, and a member of the House Armed Services Committee professional staff.   

She specializes in defense strategy and capabilities, defense and security, geopolitics and international security, and weapons of mass destruction proliferation.

Her books and publications include Restoring Restraint: Enforcing Accountability for Users of Chemical Weapons and The Evolving U.S. Nuclear Narrative: Communicating the Rationale for the Role and Value of U.S. Nuclear Weapons, 1989 to Today.

She holds an M.A. in Arab studies from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Duke University.