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Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall, Senior Fellow
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Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall

Senior Fellow

Dr. Liz Sherwood-Randall is currently a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. She is the Director of the Initiative on Bioconvergence, Biosecurity, and Bioresilience (IB3), which is situated within the Program on Emerging Technology, Scientific Advancement and Global Policy.  

Dr. Sherwood-Randall has had a trailblazing career in national and homeland security, serving in key leadership roles at the White House, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Defense.  Most recently, she worked in the West Wing from 2021-2025 as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security and Deputy National Security Advisor.  In that high stakes position, she pioneered Federal efforts to strengthen national preparedness for and resilience to emerging threats.  She spearheaded Federal crisis management for a wide range of challenges including mass shootings, domestic and international terrorist attacks, extreme weather events, and critical infrastructure disruptions.  She guided the development and implementation of new strategies to counter terrorism at home and around the world.  She innovated policies to prevent, prepare, and respond to natural and pernicious biological risks, including mpox, avian flu, and the convergence of advances in biotechnology and artificial intelligence.  She built a counter-fentanyl campaign involving Mexico, Canada, and China, and mobilized a global coalition of more than 80 partner countries to disrupt the synthetic opioid supply chain and save American lives.

During the Obama Administration, Dr. Sherwood-Randall served in three successive roles: Deputy Secretary of Energy (2014-2017); White House Coordinator for Defense Policy, Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction and Arms Control (2013-2014); and Senior Director for Europe on the National Security Council (2009-2013).  She served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine, and Eurasia (1994-1996).  At the beginning of her career, she served as Chief Foreign Affairs and Defense Policy Advisor to Senator Joe Biden.  She has been repeatedly recognized for her leadership, including with the Secretary of Energy Exceptional Service Award, the Department of Defense Nunn-Lugar Trailblazer Award, and the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

Dr. Sherwood-Randall has taught, conducted research, and mentored students at universities and think tanks including Harvard, Stanford, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Council on Foreign Relations.  She has also advised national laboratories, power grid and cybersecurity startups, and energy investment funds. 

Born and raised in Los Angeles, she graduated from Harvard College and received a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford University, where she completed her  doctorate in international relations.  She is married to Dr. Jeffrey Randall, a neurosurgeon in the California Bay Area, and they have two sons.  

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Impacts of the U.S. Killing of Qassem Soleimani

by Matthew Bunn, Morgan L. Kaplan, Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall, Joseph L. Votel, Tarek Masoud, Vincent K. Brooks, Gary Samore, Martin B. Malin, William H. Tobey, Wendy R. Sherman, Paula J. Dobriansky and Rami Khouri
Article
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
In this Sept. 18, 2016 photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Revolutionary Guard Gen. Qassem Soleimani, center, attends a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Revolutionary Guard commanders in Tehran, Iran.

Impacts of U.S. Troop Withdrawal from Syria

by Ash Carter, Nicholas Burns, Rami Khouri, Elizabeth D. Sherwood-Randall, Morgan L. Kaplan, Stephen M. Walt, John Holland-McCowan, Dr. Amanda Sloat, Wendy R. Sherman and Eric Rosenbach
Article
from Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces, SDF, stands inside a post where U.S. troops were based, in Tel Abyad town, at the Syrian-Turkish border, Syria, Monday, Oct. 7, 2019.