US Senate confirms Indian-American Radha Iyengar Plumb as Dy Under Secretary of Defense

Washington: The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Indian-American Radha Iyengar Plumb as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense.

The Senate today voted on the confirmation of Executive Calendar 19 Radha Iyengar Plumb, of New York, to be a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense. She won by a vote of 68-30. “By a vote of 68-30, the Senate confirmed Executive Calendar #19 Radha Iyengar Plumb to be a Deputy Under Secretary of Defense,” tweeted the US Senate Periodical Press Gallery.

US President Joe Biden had nominated security expert Radha Iyengar Plumb to the post of Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, the latest Indian-American to be named for a key position.

She is currently serving as Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense & was nominated for the top Pentagon position in June 2022.

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, Plumb was a senior economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on improving the 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 for Transgender Service members and review of security and suitability screening efforts.

From 2014-2015, 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 in executive actions on sexual assault in the military.

She also served as a 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.

Plumb received her PhD in economics from Princeton University. Her research has covered empirical evaluations of policies aimed at reducing violence, including criminal violence, sexual assault, terrorist behaviour, 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.

In her Linkedin profile, she describes herself as an experienced leader with deep technical analytic skills and a demonstrated history of working in the government, academia, and industry.