Who is Radha Iyengar Plumb? Meet Joe Biden's Indian-American nominee for top Pentagon post

Plumb was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust and Safety at Google prior to her appointment as chief of staff. She was in charge of cross-functional teams working on business analytics, data science, and technological research.

US President Joe Biden nominated Indian-American Radha Iyengar Plumb to a key post at the Pentagon, the headquarters of the US Department of Defense, on Wednesday. Plumb is now the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Secretary of Defense. She has been nominated to be the Department of Defense's Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment.

Plumb was the Director of Research and Insights for Trust and Safety at Google prior to her appointment as chief of staff. She was in charge of cross-functional teams working on business analytics, data science, and technological research. Plumb formerly worked at Facebook as the Global Head of Policy Analysis, where she was responsible for high risk/high harm safety and important international security problems.

Before this, Plumb was a senior economist at the RAND Corporation where she focused on strengthening measurement and assessment of preparedness and security operations throughout the Department of Defense. She has previously held prominent roles on national security matters at the Departments of Defense, Energy, and the White House National Security Council.

Plumb started at the London School of Economics where she was an Assistant Professor. She got her Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from Princeton University, where she also performed her postdoctoral study. She graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a B.S. (MIT).

Biden stated in a virtual conversation in March 2021 that they were taking over the country. He nominated 55 Indian-Americans to significant top positions in his government in less than 50 days. "Americans of Indian ancestry (sic) are taking over the country. Swati Mohan, my Vice President (Kamala Harris), and Vinay Reddy, my speechwriter," according to PTI, Biden said.

(With PTI inputs)