Debra L. Cagan worked as a career State Department diplomat and Defense Department official from the Reagan to Trump administrations, including serving as Deputy Assistant secretary of Defense for Coalition, Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Disaster Relief; Senior Director for European, Russian and Eurasian security issues; Special Adviser for Strategic and Nuclear Policy for Europe; Senior Adviser to U.S. and NATO military officials. Ms. Cagan led negotiations for the Highly Enriched Uranium Agreement with Russia and headed coalition operations for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ms. Cagan, a native Chicagoan, has a BA and MA from the University of Iowa and completed additional post-graduate work at the University of Chicago towards her doctorate, where she was named the first woman fellow for the prestigious Armed Forces and Society Consortium.