Indian American US Navy Veteran, Shanti Sethi Appointed VP’s Defence Advisor
Shanti Sethi, a trail-blazing female Navy veteran has been appointed as the defense advisor to Vice President Kamala Harris.
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 Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro.
During her 29-year Navy career, Sethi commanded the guided-missile destroyer, USS Decatur, a missile destroyer ship with a crew of 281, including 33 commissioned officers, from December 2010 to May 2012. She was also the first female commander of a US naval vessel to visit India.
Shanti Sethi was born in Reno, Nevada. Her mom was born in Canada and became a naturalized US citizen at the age of 12, while her father immigrated to the US from India in the early 1960s, the USA Today report said. Her parents divorced when Sethi was 5. She was raised by her mother, an engineer who worked for NASA.
Sethi graduated from Norwich University in 1993 with a degree in International Affairs. She also holds a master’s in international policy from George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Shanti Sethi was 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 defense across all military services.
Kamala Devi Harris has broken barriers for not just women but Black and South Asian Americans with her win as Vice President of the United States. A proud Indian and Black woman, she takes on the role with grace, and as she says, though she may be the first she will truly not be the last.
It is phenomenal to believe that the rising generation of children will never live in a world where a woman has not led the nation. Little Brown and Black girls will never again grow up in a world where they feel they can’t reach their dreams.
Kamala Harris and now, Shanti Sethi have shown us the path to the top, and we are grateful for the representation.
