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.