Commissioner Bio
Jane Harman
Chair, Commission on the National Defense Strategy
Jane Harman served nine terms in Congress as the U.S. representative for California’s 36th congressional district and was ranking member of the Intelligence Committee after 9/11. After leaving the House in 2011, she was the first woman president and CEO of the Wilson Center until 2021. She has served on numerous government advisory boards (Central Intelligence Agency, Director of National Intelligence, DOD, and State Department) and currently is a member of the NASA and DHS advisory councils. She chairs the Commission on the National Defense Strategy, co-chairs the Board of Freedom House, and is a member of the Aspen Strategy Group, the Munich Security Conference Executive Committee, and the Board of Governors of the National Intelligence University. Harman’s book, “Insanity Defense: Why Our Failure to Confront Hard National Security Problems Makes Us Less Safe,” was published by St. Martin’s Press in 2021.