Dr. Janine Davidson was sworn in as the 32nd under secretary of the Navy March 22. Davidson serves as the Navy’s chief management officer and performs other duties assigned by the secretary of the Navy.
A former Air Force pilot and Pentagon official, Davidson brings nearly 30 years of experience in military operations, national security policy and academic research to her new role.
From 2009 to 2012, Davidson served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for plans, where she oversaw the formulation and review of military war plans and global force posture policy. Previously, she served as director for stability operations capabilities in the Office of Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, where she was the founding director of the Center for Complex Operations, an interagency organization focused on enhancing civilian and military performance in the field.
Davidson also served as a presidentially appointed member of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force, as a member of the Reserve Forces Policy Board and as a senior advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander, NATO. As an analyst and academic, Davidson has taught national security policy and political science at Georgetown University, George Mason University, and Davidson College, and is the author of numerous articles across a range of defense issues.
Davidson was commissioned as an Air Force second lieutenant in 1988. She flew combat support, airdrop and humanitarian air mobility missions in the C-130 and C-17 cargo aircraft, and also served as an instructor pilot at the U.S. Air Force Academy. She was the first woman to fly the Air Force’s tactical C-130.