Sasha Baker

Alexandra Nicole Baker[1] (née Rogers), known as Sasha Baker, is an American policy advisor who currently serves as deputy under secretary of defense for policy at the Department of Defense.

Sasha Baker
Official portrait, 2022
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
Acting
Assumed office
July 14, 2023
PresidentJoe Biden
Preceded byColin Kahl
Personal details
BornNew Jersey, U.S.
EducationDartmouth College (BA)
Harvard University (MPP)
AwardsDepartment of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service

Most recently, Baker served as special assistant to the president and senior director for strategic planning on the National Security Council. During the Obama administration, Baker served as deputy chief of staff to U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter.

Early life and education

Baker was born Alexandra Nicole Rogers in 1983. She grew up in the New York City suburbs of northern New Jersey. Her maternal grandparents were from Russia, and her mother, Svetlana Lisanti, came to the U.S. as a refugee.[2][3]

Baker received her bachelor of arts (B.A.) degree from Dartmouth College in 2005 and a master of public policy (MPP) degree from the Harvard Kennedy School in 2011.[4] After receiving her MPP, Baker became a senior fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.[5]

Career

After college, Baker worked for a consulting firm in Boston, which was not a good fit.[2] Beginning in 2007, Baker worked as a research assistant in the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee for two years.[6]

After gaining her master's, she worked at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), until July 2015. She started as a program examiner in the Homeland Security division then transferred to the National Security division. Baker was later elevated to the position of special assistant to the director within in the OMB.[7] During that time she had detached duty in the Pentagon doing budget analysis. Baker was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service in 2015.

Baker later served as deputy chief of staff to Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. According to Carter, Baker was intimately involved in Department of Defense strategy decision related to counterinsurgency against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS).[8]

In 2017, Baker joined the office of Senator Elizabeth Warren as a policy advisor on national security issues.[9] Baker later joined Warren's 2020 presidential campaign as the candidate's chief national security advisor.[10][2][11]

Biden administration

In January 2021, then-President-elect Joe Biden announced that Baker would be appointed senior director for strategic planning at the National Security Council.[12] Biden would later nominate Baker to serve as deputy undersecretary of defense for policy in August 2021.[8] On February 9, 2022, Baker was confirmed by the Senate.[13]

Personal life

In 2015, Baker married Sam Baker, a journalist and editor at Axios.

References
  1. "DA&M Donley swears-in DUSD(P) Baker". Retrieved February 15, 2022.
  2. Klion, David (February 18, 2020). "The Woman Behind Elizabeth Warren's Foreign Policy". The Nation. ISSN 0027-8378. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  3. "Sasha Rogers, Samuel Baker". The New York Times. October 11, 2015. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  4. "Presidential Foreign Policy Forum with Sasha Baker". World Affairs Council of New Hampshire.
  5. "Sasha Baker". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  6. "Press Release - President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris Announce Additional Members of the National Security Council | The American Presidency Project". www.presidency.ucsb.edu. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  7. "Belfer Center Student Career Talk with Sasha Baker MPP2011". Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  8. Gould, Joe (August 10, 2021). "Sasha Baker tapped for lead policy role at Pentagon". Defense News. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  9. Pager, Tyler (February 6, 2017). "Warren hires former Defense official as national security aide". Boston Globe. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  10. "Biden's NSC to focus on global health, climate, cyber and human rights, as well as China and Russia". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  11. "'Most influential voice': Warren's network spreads throughout Biden administration". POLITICO. March 15, 2021. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  12. Crowley, Michael (January 8, 2021). "Announcing National Security Council staff appointees, Biden restores the office for global health threats". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
  13. "U.S. Senate: U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 117th Congress - 2nd Session".
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