Washington: US President Joe Biden has nominated security expert Radha Iyengar Plumb to the post of deputy under-secretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. The nomination brings Radha Iyengar Plumb's name as the latest addition to the list of Indian-Americans to be named for key positions.
In a virtual conversation over a year ago Biden had stated that he had nominated 55 Indian-Americans to the significant top positions in his government in less than 50 days. "Americans of Indian ancestry are taking over the country. Swati Mohan, my Vice President (Kamala Harris), and Vinay Reddy, my speechwriter," he had reportedly said, adding that the Indian-Americans were taking over the country.
Radha is currently serving as the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense and before this, she was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust and Safety at Google, leading their cross-functional teams on business analytics, data science and technical research.
A skilled policy researcher with an extensive experience in trust and safety matters, Radha started working as the Chief Of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen H Hicks in February 2021 after working at Google for a year. It was during this period of her government service that she played a significant role in minimizing sexual assaults, suicide prevention, developing budgets and policies related to nuclear and energy infrastructure security and resilience, and regulating counter-terrorism efforts in the Middle East and North Africa. She was also instrumental in evaluating stabilization operations in Afghanistan where she worked in the capacity of a civilian conducting measurement and assessment work to support the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team for the Commander, ISAF.
Radha completed her Bachelor of Science Programme in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2002 and got her MS and subsequently a PhD in Economics from Princeton University in 2006. She did her postdoctoral work at Harvard and joined as an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) at the London School of Economics, where she worked till 2011.
