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Jennifer C. Walsh

Former Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs

 

Ms. Jennifer C. Walsh served as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. In this role she supported the Assistant Secretary of Defense and held leadership, policy management, and advisory responsibilities for the following offices: Defense Continuity and Mission Assurance; Homeland Defense Integration and Defense Support of Civil Authorities; Western Hemisphere Affairs; and, Arctic and Global Resilience.

Ms. Walsh entered federal government service in 1996 in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). She was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2010. Her OSD Policy experience includes assignments in the offices for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, Middle East Policy, Afghanistan/Pakistan/Central Asia, Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia, Plans, Support to Public Diplomacy, Strategy, European Policy, Asia-Pacific Policy, Technology Security Policy & Counter-Proliferation, and the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA). She served in the role of Performing the Duties of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from January 20 - April 29, 2021; and served as the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security from April 30, 2021 - March 3, 2022. She assumed the duties of Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary (Homeland Defense and Global Security) duties in September 2020; she maintains this position following an OSD Policy re-organization and component name change to Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs.

Prior to joining the Department of Defense, Ms. Walsh served as J. William Fulbright Scholar to Sweden and worked as a policy analyst for the Southern Governors’ Association in Washington, D.C.

Ms. Walsh is a 2007 graduate of the National War College (NWC) at the National Defense University and served as the OSD Policy Chair on the NWC Faculty from July 2014-June 2017. She earned a Master of Public Affairs degree from the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Louisiana Scholars’ College at Northwestern State University.