Kristen Smith 
The Nuclear Threat Initiative board has elected Christine Wormuth, a former secretary of the Army, as its next president and CEO, effective Nov. 17. She will succeed Ernest Moniz, who will remain as co-chair of the NTI board, the organization said Wednesday.
Who Is Christine Wormuth?
Wormuth, a two-time Wash100 Award recipient, served as Army secretary from 2021 to 2025. She oversaw an annual budget of $186 billion and managed nearly 1 million active-duty soldiers and 300,000 civilian employees.
Her three-decade national security career includes senior roles at the Department of Defense, the White House and RAND. From 2014 to 2016, she served as under secretary of defense for policy, advising the defense secretary on national security issues. She also became the deputy under secretary for strategy, plans and forces; special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for defense at the National Security Council; and principal deputy assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense.
Commenting on her latest appointment, Wormuth highlighted the organization’s critical mission and history. “I’m honored to join NTI and follow in the footsteps of both Ernie Moniz and Sam Nunn, whose leadership delivered lasting, tangible results,” she said. “NTI’s mission to reduce global nuclear, biological, and emerging technology threats is more vital than ever. I’m excited to lead this exceptional team as it builds on NTI’s legacy and helps shape a safer, more resilient future.”
Founded in 2001, NTI is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing nuclear, biological and emerging technology threats worldwide through policy advocacy, research and international partnerships. Wormuth will become the organization’s third CEO.
Adm. Mike Mullen, an NTI board member who led the search for the new CEO, said Wormuth is “stepping in at a critical time, with global threats rising across nuclear, bio, and tech domains.”
