Biography

Davis, a senior political scientist at RAND, served as Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs from 1993 to 1997. Her current research focuses on strategic planning, terrorism, citizen preparedness, and defense strategy and force structure issues. She was the senior study group advisor for the Commission on National Security/21st Century. Prior to joining the State Department, Davis was vice president and director of the RAND Arroyo Center. She has also served on the staffs of the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the first Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. She has taught in the Security Studies Program at Georgetown University, at the National War College, and at Columbia University.

Davis’s recent RAND publications include A Strategic Planning Approach: Defining Alternative Counterterrorism Strategies as an Illustration (Lynn E. Davis and Melanie W. Sisson, 2009); Hurricane Katrina: Lessons for Army Planning and Operations, Lynn E. Davis et al., 2007); “Four Ways to Restructure National Security in the U.S. Government” (in Robert Klitgaard and Paul C. Light, eds., High-Performance Government: Structure, Leadership, Incentives, 2005); and Stretched Thin: Army Forces for Sustained Operations, (Lynn E. Davis et al., 2005).