Kari is the Chief Strategy Officer at HawkEye 360, the first commercial company to use formation-flying satellites to create a new class of radio frequency (RF) data and analytics. She is guiding the company through an evolving space landscape and growing market for RF data and analytics, and focused on how such capabilities can support national security users and a wide array of industries.
Previously, Kari served as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security (Deputy USD(I&S)), after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2017. The USD(I&S) establishes policies and priorities for the defense intelligence and security enterprises (including the DIA, NGA, NRO, NSA, and DCSA); manages an annual budget of over $54 billion, including military intelligence and joint military-national intelligence programs; and oversees the defense intelligence and security workforce of over 120,000 personnel. Kari began the realignment of defense intelligence and security investments to address National Defense Strategy priorities, guided the Department’s AI/ML pathfinder, and elevated the Department’s focus on personnel and industrial security.
Prior to DoD, she was the Policy Director on the House Armed Services Committee and staff lead for its Strategic Forces subcommittee, advising members of Congress on defense policy, program, and budget matters. Prior to entering government, Kari specialized in national security space issues, working with U.S. defense and intelligence community clients, first as a space systems analyst at SRA International’s Adroit C4ISR Center, and then as a senior space policy analyst at the Aerospace Corporation.
Kari is a non-resident Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) and a member of the Blue Origin, Beacon Global Strategies, and CalypsoAI advisory boards. She was a commissioner on the CSIS Task Force on Technology and Intelligence. She is passionate about “paying-it-forward” as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University and as a member of the Common Mission Project Board of Advisors. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, and a 2002 NRO Technology Fellow.