Jane Harman resigned from Congress February 28, 2011 to join the Woodrow Wilson Center as its first female Director, President and CEO.
Representing the aerospace center of California during nine terms in Congress, she served on all the major security committees: six years on Armed Services, eight years on Intelligence, and eight on Homeland Security. During her long public career, Harman has been recognized as a national expert at the nexus of security and public policy issues. She received the Defense Department Medal for Distinguished Service in 1998, the CIA Seal Medal in 2007, and the CIA Director's Award and the Director of National Intelligence Distinguished Public Service Medal in 2011.
She is a member of the Defense Policy Board, State Department Foreign Policy Board, the Director of National Intelligence's Senior Advisory Group, and the Homeland Security Advisory Committee. She was a member of the CIA External Advisory Board from 2011 to 2013.
Harman is a Trustee of the Aspen Institute and the University of Southern California. A product of Los Angeles public schools, Harman is a magna cum laude graduate of Smith College, where she was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, and Harvard Law School. Prior to serving in Congress, she was a top aide in the United States Senate, Deputy Cabinet Secretary to President Jimmy Carter, Special Counsel to the Department of Defense, and in private law practice.
She has four adult children and four grandchildren.