Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall is an American national security and energy leader, public servant, educator, and author currently serving as the 11th United States Homeland Security Advisor to President Joe Biden since 2021. She previously served in both the Clinton and Obama Administrations and held appointments at academic institutions and think tanks.
After receiving her doctorate, Sherwood-Randall served in 1986-1987 as the chief foreign affairs and defense policy advisor to then-Senator Joseph R. Biden. From 1990 to 1993, she was the Associate Director of the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center’s Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, which she co-founded with former Kennedy School Dean and Professor Graham Allison.
During the Clinton administration, Sherwood-Randall served from 1994-1996 as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia. After departing public service, she became a founding principal of the Harvard-Stanford Preventive Defense Project from 1997-2008, serving with other former senior Defense Department officials including William J. Perry, Ash Carter, and GEN (ret.) John Shalikashvili.
After providing advice to the Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama 2008 presidential campaigns, she joined the National Security Council at the White House in January 2009. She served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for European Affairs during President Obama’s first term. In 2013 she was promoted to White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Arms Control. In July 2014 she was nominated by President Obama to become the 18th United States Deputy Secretary of Energy and, following Senate confirmation in September 2014, she served in that role from October 2014 until January 20, 2017. Following her departure from government service in 2017, she held an array of professorial and senior fellow positions at academic institutions, including at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
After advising the Biden 2020 presidential campaign and transition team, Sherwood-Randall was discussed as a lead contender to be President Biden’s Secretary of Energy. Instead, she was appointed as the President’s White House Homeland Security Advisor and Deputy National Security Advisor in January 2021. Sherwood-Randall was part of the Biden administration team that launched the U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism on May 25, 2023.
