Director, Strategic Capabilities Policy National Security Staff, The White House Washington, D.C. Oregon National Guard Brigadier General
Julie Bentz, who received an ROTC commission from Oregon State University, has risen to the top of her field as director of Strategic Capabilities Policy with the National Security Staff at the White House.Bentz is the former civil support team science officer at the National Guard Bureau and director for response operations with the Homeland Security Council. She has been an integral part of advising the country on nuclear defense strategies and implications during the tumultuous times since Sept. 11, 2001, including last year’s nuclear disaster in Japan.
“During the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power plant crisis, I joined fellow members of the National Security Staff to work with experts to develop new guidance for ‘how safe is safe’, ‘how clean is clean’, and ‘waste disposition’ that is being considered for late-phase recovery protective action guidelines,” says Bentz. When Bentz was promoted to brigadier general last June, she became the first woman to achieve this level of success in the Oregon National Guard. After graduating from Oregon State, she earned master’s and doctoral degrees in nuclear engineering from the University of Columbia-Missouri and an additional master’s degree in national security strategy from the National War College in Washington, D.C.
Degrees
- B.A. General Science, 1986