Senate Confirms Biden’s Pick for DOD International Security Affairs Role

The Senate has confirmed Celeste Wallander to the role of assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs.

She is a former CEO and president of the U.S. Russia Foundation, a nonprofit American organization seeking to strengthen relations between the two nations.

In her new role, Wallander will advise Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a two-time Wash100 winner, on matters related to the Middle East, Europe, Russia, Eurasia, Africa and the Western Hemisphere, Defense News reported Thursday.

She is currently a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Atlantic Council of the United States and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

From 2013 to 2017, Wallander served as a special assistant to the president and as senior director for Russia and Central Asia on the National Security Council.

She was deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia from 2009 to July 2012, according to the White House‘s press release on her nomination.

Wallander was a visiting professor at American University from 2009 to 2013 and served as director for Russia and Eurasia at the Center for Strategic and International Studies from 2001 to 2006. CSIS is a Washington, D.C.-based think tank that specializes in national security matters.

Wallander served as a professor of government at Harvard University from 1998 to 2000. According to the White House, she has authored more than 80 publications on European and Eurasian security issues. Her work was particularly focused on Russian foreign and defense strategy.

She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees from Northwestern University, the White House said.