U.S. Department of War
Sara Plana currently serves in the U.S. Department of War as Senior Intelligence Assistant to the Under Secretary of War for Intelligence and Security. She was a 2021-2022 postdoctoral fellow at Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania and a 2020-2021 predoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. Her research expertise is in proxy warfare, escalation dynamics, military organizations, civil-military relations, and control over the use of force. Previously, Sara served in the Office of the Secretary of War for Policy on Turkey defense policy, as a summer associate for RAND, and as an analyst for the Department of War. Sara received her PhD in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and her AB in Government from Harvard University. A proud Latina, she is a first-generation American, a daughter of Cuban immigrants, and a native of South Florida.