Russell Rumbaugh Joins Stimson as BFAD Co-Director

June 15, 2011

Russell Rumbaugh served as a staffer for Senator Kent Conrad on the Senate Budget Committee covering both the 050 Defense and 150 International Affairs accounts of the US Government budget.

"It was a fascinating time to be on the Hill and trying to look creatively at national security budgets and processes at a time of deficit reduction and war," Rumbaugh says.

In his new role as the co-director of the Budgeting for Foreign Affairs and Defense program (BFAD), Rumbaugh will work alongside director Gordon Adams to support the program's endeavors to strengthen the capacity and capability of the US government to frame, resource, and execute foreign and national security policies and programs.

"Gordon and his team have already built a great program, and I look forward to extending their efforts to use an institutional lens to explain what drives our national security," says Rumbaugh of joining Stimson.  "With a clear national consensus that we must steward taxpayer dollars carefully, the BFAD program is uniquely positioned to offer actionable options to policymakers and make the complexities of national security budgeting more transparent for all."

Prior to this committee work, Rumbaugh was the military legislative assistant for Congressman Jim Cooper from Tennessee. He was the lead staffer for Rep. Cooper as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's Panel on Roles and Missions, which produced the report "Initial Perspectives" in February 2008.
 
Rumbaugh also served as an operations research analyst in the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Program Analysis and Evaluation, as a military analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency, and as an infantry officer in the US Army resigning with the rank of Captain.
 
His civilian education includes a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Chicago and a Masters of Science in Security Studies from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was awarded the Office of the Secretary of Defense's Award for Excellence and the US Army Commendation Medal for his service in Kosovo.