Trail-Blazing Indian American Navy Veteran Named Harris’s Defense Advisor

WASHINGTON, DC (IANS) – Shanti Sethi, a trail-blazing woman Navy veteran has been appointed defense advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Harris’s Senior Advisor Herbie Ziskend confirmed the appointment of Sethi, who will also have the title of Executive Secretary.

Sethi, who retired with the rank of captain, was the senior military advisor to Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

During her 29-year Navy career, she had commanded the USS Decatur, a missile destroyer ship with a crew of 281, including 33 commissioned officers.

While heading the ship, she had taken it on a visit to Chennai in 2011.

Sethi is a native of Reno, NV. Her father, immigrated to the US as a student when he met her American mother. Her parents divorced when Sethi was 5. She was raised by her mother, an engineer who worked for NASA.

Sethi graduated from Norwich University in 1993 with a degree in International Affairs. She also holds a master’s in international policy from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.

Sethi has also been the Commanding Officer of the Sixth Fleet’s Task Force 64 and the action officer coordinating joint and international policy for integrated air and missile defense across all military services, according to her LinkedIn profile which has been updated to confirm her new position with Harris.