Phoebe Benich

Non-Resident Fellow, Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology

Bio

Phoebe Benich is a Non-Resident Fellow with the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology. She most recently served as Director for Strategic Risk at the White House Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD), where she advised the National Cyber Director and White House leadership on cybersecurity, emerging technologies, and strategic competition with China. In this role, she led the development and interagency coordination of the nation's modern energy cybersecurity priorities and their attendant implementation plan.

Prior to ONCD, Phoebe was a Senior Program Manager at In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the U.S. intelligence community, where she managed work programs between In-Q-Tel’s portfolio companies and intelligence community customers to develop technology solutions in the cyber, AI, biotech, and microelectronics fields. She served on the staff of the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission, where she helped develop the Commission's landmark legislative recommendations, and of the Defense Innovation Board, where she led projects on Joint All-Domain Command and Control, digital acquisition, and artificial intelligence. Phoebe drove Indo-Pacific national security priorities through roles at the U.S. Department of State (Embassy Vientiane), Booz Allen Hamilton, and the Center for a New American Security. She also completed a Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan.

Phoebe holds an MA with honors in International Relations from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), with concentrations in Strategic Studies and International Economics, and a BA summa cum laude in International Relations and Chinese from the College of William & Mary. She is a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations.