Kari served most recently as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence and Security, after being unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate in May 2017. She began the realignment of defense intelligence and security investments to address National Defense Strategy priorities, guided the Department’s Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning 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 member of the Blue Origin Advisory Board, CalypsoAI National Security Advisory Board, and Common Mission Project Advisory Board. She is also a non-resident Senior Adviser at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), and recently participated as a commissioner on the CSIS Technology and Intelligence Task Force. She is a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics,
and a 2002 NRO Technology Fellow.