Alissa Starzak

Alissa Starzak currently serves as the Vice President and Global Head of Public Policy at Cloudflare, a web performance and cybersecurity company that is on a mission to help build a better Internet.

Prior to joining Cloudflare, Ms. Starzak worked for the U.S government in a variety of national security positions. During the Obama-Biden Administration, she served as the 21st General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Army, after confirmation by the Senate. As General Counsel of the Army, she was the primary legal counsel to the Secretary of the Army and the Army’s chief legal officer. Her appointment as Army General Counsel followed service as the Deputy General Counsel for Legislation at the U.S. Department of Defense, where she advised on legal issues with a legislative or congressional component and managed an office of attorneys responsible for developing the Department of Defense legislative program. Prior to the Department of Defense, Ms. Starzak served as Counsel to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, focusing on legal issues relating to intelligence collection and covert action, and as an Assistant General Counsel at the Central Intelligence Agency’s Office of General Counsel. She also previously worked in private practice in Washington, D.C.

In addition to her position at Cloudflare, Ms. Starzak is currently serving in her second term as the vice chair of the Public Interest Declassification Board, appointed by Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer. She also served on the Department of Defense Agency Review Team for the Biden-Harris Transition.

Ms. Starzak graduated from Amherst College and the University of Chicago Law School, where she served as an editor of the University of Chicago Law Review. After law school, she clerked for The Honorable E. Grady Jolly, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.