Indian American woman, US Navy veteran appointed Harris’s defence advisor

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Shanti Sethi, a trail-blazing woman US Navy veteran, has been appointed Defence Advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris. Politico said on Monday that 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 US Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.

During her 29-year naval 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, India in 2011.

Captain 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 defence across all military services, according to her LinkedIn profile which has been updated to confirm her new position with Vice President Harris.

Harris, who is the first woman, Black American and South Asian American to be elected Vice President of the United States, had previously appointed Rohini Kosoglu as a domestic policy advisor. Kosoglu had earlier served as Harris’ chief of staff for her senate office, making her the first South Asian American woman to serve in this role in United States Senate history.