Kathleen Hicks

Kathleen Anne Holland Hicks (born September 25, 1970) is a former American civil servant who served as the United States deputy secretary of defense from 2021 to 2025. She is the first Senate-confirmed woman in this role and is the highest-ranking woman to have served in the United States Department of Defense.

Hicks previously served as the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy during the Obama administration. By 2020, Hicks was an academic and national security advisor working as a senior vice president and director of the international security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Education Hicks completed a B.A. in history and politics at Mount Holyoke College in 1991, where she graduated with magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa honors. Hicks completed a Ph.D. in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2010. Her dissertation was titled Change Agents: Who Leads and Why in the Execution of U.S. National Security Policy. Charles Stewart III was Hicks' doctoral advisor.

During the Obama administration in 2009, Hicks was appointed deputy undersecretary of defense for strategy, plans, and forces. In 2012, Hicks was the principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy during the Obama administration. In that role, she was a liaison for the 2010 Quadrennial Defense Review and oversaw the 2012 Defense Strategic Guidance. Hicks was a presidentially appointed commissioner for the National Commission on the Future of the Army. as well as the boards of advisors for the Truman National Security Project and SoldierStrong.

United States Deputy Secretary of Defense Hicks is sworn in as deputy secretary of defense, February 9, 2021.

On December 30, 2020, Hicks was announced as then U.S. President-elect Joe Biden's nominee for the United States deputy secretary of defense. She appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee on February 2, 2021. She was confirmed by voice vote by the full Senate on February 8, 2021, and sworn into office on February 9, 2021. She is the first Senate-confirmed woman in this role. Hicks is the highest ranking woman to have served in the DoD.

Hicks has launched initiatives that attempt to shorten technology adoption timelines and speed fielding of new defense capabilities. She spearheaded Replicator, an initiative initially focused on fielding autonomous systems to help counter China's military. She oversees the military's first commercial space integration strategy, as well as several of the Pentagon's largest missile defense and long-range strike programs. She is also in charge of the military's efforts related to climate change. Hicks established the Deputy's Workforce Council in the DoD to address workforce challenges such as extremism and a lack of diversity. She has also focused on efforts to take care of service members and their families, including countering sexual assault and harassment and preventing suicide.

In January 2024, Hicks temporarily assumed the functions and duties of the secretary of defense while Lloyd Austin was hospitalized. Hicks performed the role of secretary of defense while vacationing in Puerto Rico, but was left unaware of the reason why for three days. In February 2024, Austin transferred his authority to Hicks while again being hospitalized.

Selected works