Lynn Rusten is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Transatlantic Defense and Security Program at the Center for European Policy Analysis and is an independent national security consultant.

Rusten served as the vice president for the Nuclear Threat Initiative’s Global Nuclear Policy Program from 2018 through 2024, where she led efforts to reduce the risk of nuclear weapons use and proliferation. With expertise in nuclear arms control, nonproliferation, and national security policy, Rusten has held senior positions in the White House, Department of State, and Congress. She served as the senior director for arms control and nonproliferation on the White House National Security Council staff and held key roles at the Department of State, including chief of staff for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation and senior advisor in the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, where she led the interagency process supporting the negotiation and ratification of New START. Earlier in her career, she was a senior professional staff member on the Senate Armed Services Committee and director of the National Academy of Sciences’ Committee on International Security and Arms Control, and she held positions at the US Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the Congressional Research Service. Rusten holds an MS in national security strategy from the National War College, an MA in Russian and East European studies from the University of Michigan, and a BA in government with high honors from Oberlin College.