Lauryn Williams

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

Bio

Lauryn Williams is a Non-Resident Fellow with the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology. She previously served as Chief of Staff in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy in the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), where she spearheaded release of the first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy Implementation Plan. Immediately prior, Lauryn was Director for Strategy in the Office of the National Cyber Director (ONCD) and drove the White House strategic initiative on space system cybersecurity. This work - which leveraged extensive interagency, industry and international collaboration - resulted in the first-ever minimum cybersecurity requirements for federal space systems included in President Biden’s January 2025 cybersecurity executive order. The White House simultaneously released a report capturing findings from a series of regional technical workshops that brought together over 125 U.S. and multinational space companies to discuss cyber challenges and opportunities.

Lauryn joined ONCD from the DoD space policy office, where she led efforts to better leverage commercial space capabilities - which earned her an Office of the Secretary of Defense Achievement Award - and to develop the first-ever U.S. norms of responsible behavior in space. She has also served in the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration as an international export control project manager and at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Lauryn received her bachelors degree from Stanford University and masters degree from Princeton University.