Eric Rosenbach

Eric Brien Rosenbach is an American public servant and professor who served as Pentagon Chief of Staff from July 2015 to January 2017 and as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security from September 2014 to September 2015. As Chief of Staff, Rosenbach assisted Secretary Ash Carter on the Department of Defense's major challenges of the time, which included increased Russian aggression, the Syrian Civil War, and North Korean missile tests.

Rosenbach's background is in cybersecurity, both public and private sector. He was the first-ever DoD ‘cyber tzar’ known as the Principal Cyber Advisor to the Secretary of Defense. From September 2011 to August 2014, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber, in which role he oversaw and led the DoD's cybersecurity strategy. and prior to that, he was an Army intelligence communications officer.

Returning to Harvard Kennedy School to teach in 2007, Rosenbach was the executive director of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs for three years before going to the DoD. He would again return to Harvard in May 2017 to become co-director of the Belfer Center with Secretary Ash Carter.

Early life Eric Rosenbach was born at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. His father, Dr. William E. Rosenbach, a thirty-year Air Force Veteran, served in the U.S. Air Force flying a Lockheed C-130 Hercules in the Vietnam War. A professor at the academy, Dr. Rosenbach was an influential force in Eric Rosenbach's decision to join the military through the ROTC program.

Education Rosenbach graduated from Gettysburg Area High School in 1991 and played football and basketball while a student there.

On a ROTC scholarship at Davidson, Rosenbach was elected student body president, played quarterback for the Davidson football team, and was a ROTC battalion commander. Rosenbach got involved in Davidson's Dean Rusk International Studies Program and found public service appealing. A Davidson article quotes him as saying, “Public service motivated me. It’s a rewarding feeling to know you’re making a little bit of difference in the world. I figured that I’d be either a history or government teacher, or work in the foreign service. ” The Dean Rusk program gave Rosenbach a grant to go to Vietnam - the country where his father had flown for the US Air Force and had almost been shot down. The trip inspired him to think deeply about military use of force and US foreign policy. Upon graduating he enrolled into the Georgetown University Law Center and obtained a Juris Doctor in 2007.

Rosenbach learned German at the Volkshochschule Rosenheim in Germany.

Career Rosenbach served as the commander of a communications intelligence unit in the US Army for four years, 1996 to 2000. The unit, which worked closely with the National Security Agency, provided strategic information to support US operations in Bosnia and Kosovo. The Central Intelligence Agency named it the top intelligence organization in the U.S. military for two consecutive years.

The Department of Defense Rosenbach became the second ever Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Cyber in September 2011. He also helped design and establish the mission force of the US Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM).

In September 2014, Rosenbach was confirmed by the US Senate as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Global Security. In that role he led the DoD's efforts to deter Chinese theft of American intellectual property and to counter Iranian and North Korean cyber attacks against US critical infrastructure. He also dealt with the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, space operations, and antiterrorism. He helped lead the implementation of the Global Health Security Agenda with a stress on multi-sector approaches to combating global health threats. Rosenbach led the DoD's domestic response to the Ebola outbreak in 2014 and established new medical safety policies.

Rosenbach became Pentagon Chief of Staff in July 2015. As Chief of Staff, Rosenbach was a senior leader of the Department of Defense, an organization with a yearly budget of $550 billion, 2.8 million personnel, and high-stakes operations across the globe. and Director of the Defense, Emerging Technology, and Strategy Program at Harvard’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.

He served as co-director of Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs from 2017 until June 2023, alongside former U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter.

At Harvard, Rosenbach teaches graduate courses in policy development, strategy execution, and emerging technology, and he also offers two HarvardX online courses on managing cyber risk and public sector strategy execution.

Personal life Rosenbach is married, has two children.

Distinctions The Meritorious Service Medal and the Knowlton Award. The Medal is awarded for, “noncombat meritorious achievement or service that is incontestably exceptional and of magnitude that clearly places the individual above his peers ”. The Award, “recognizes individuals who have contributed significantly to the promotion of Army Military Intelligence in ways that stand out in the eyes of the recipients, their superiors, subordinates, and peers[,]... demonstrate the highest standards of integrity and moral character, [and] display an outstanding degree of professional competence". The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency named his intelligence unit the top intelligence organization in the U.S. military for two consecutive years. November 2016 Secretary Carter awarded Rosenbach with The Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. “Through his expertise in national security and foreign affairs, he provided invaluable advice and assistance. Find, Fix, Finish: Inside the Counterterrorism Campaigns that Killed Bin Laden and Devastated Al Qaeda - details the US transformation from having no cohesive counterterrorism policy pre-9/11 to the all out war waged against the perpetrators over the following decade. Co-authored with Aki Peritz, a security expert. Military Leadership and Pursuit of Excellence - examines the fundamentals of military leadership. Written by Robert L. Taylor; the sixth edition of the book includes fresh perspectives from Rosenbach who served on the book's editorial team.