Radha Plumb

Effective February 3, 2021, Dr. Radha Iyengar Plumb began her position as the Chief of Staff of the Deputy Secretary of Defense.

She is responsible for leading the Deputy Secretary's executive staff and providing counsel and advice to the Deputy Secretary and ensuring Deputy-led governance processes align with key leadership priorities.

Prior to her appointment as Chief of Staff, she was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust & Safety at Google and had previously served as Global Head of Policy Analysis at Facebook. Before her Silicon Valley work, Dr. Plumb was a senior economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on improving measurement and evaluation of readiness and security efforts across the Department of Defense. In that capacity she served as lead author on a number of critical reports including assessing the implications of open service of Transgender Service members and review of security and suitability screening efforts. From 2014-2015, Dr. Plumb served as the Deputy Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Energy, where she led policy processes including budget and policy reviews related to modernizing nuclear infrastructure and efforts to enhance energy sector security and resilience. She has also served as the director of personnel and readiness at the National Security Council where she was instrumental on executive actions on sexual assault in the military. She also served as policy advisor and Chief of Staff to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, and as a civilian in Afghanistan conducting measurement and assessment work to support the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team for the Commander, ISAF.

Dr. Plumb received her Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University. Her research has covered empirical evaluations of policies aimed at reducing violence, including criminal violence, sexual assault, terrorist behavior, and sexual and intimate partner violence. At the outset of her career, she was an assistant professor at the London School of Economics and a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Scholar at Harvard.

Education

• BS Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1998 — 2002)
• PhD Princeton University (2002 — 2006)

Companies

• Chief Of Staff to the Deputy Secretary United States Department of Defense (2021)
• Director, Trust & Safety - Research and Insights Google (2020 — 2021)
• Global Head of Policy Analysis Facebook (2019 — 2020)
• Head of Product-Policy Research Facebook (2018 — 2019)
• Research Lead on User Safety and Risk Management (UX) Facebook (2017 — 2018)
• Senior Economist RAND Corporation (2015 — 2017)
• Deputy Chief of Staff U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) (2014 — 2015)
• Director of Defense Personnel, Readiness, and Partnerships National Security Council, The White House (2013 — 2014)
• Chief of Staff and Policy Advisor to the Assistant Secretary Office of Special Operations/Low Intensity Conflict, United States Department of Defense (2012 — 2013)