Policy Researcher, RAND; Professor of Policy Analysis, RAND School of Public Policy
Tahina Montoya is a defense and policy researcher at RAND and a professor of policy analysis at the RAND School of Public Policy. She is multilingual international affairs strategist and U.S. Air Force veteran with over 17 years of experience working at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels in the United States and abroad. She continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force Reserves, where she is a political/military analyst and a Department of Defense Women, Peace and Security advisor. In her civilian capacity, Montoya previously served as special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs, as strategic advisor in the Veteran Experience Office at the Department of Veteran Affairs, and most recently as senior advisor for the White House Office of Public Engagement for the Biden-Harris Administration.
Montoya is also a Presidential Leadership Scholar, a Women in International Security (WIIS) Defense Fellow, a Truman National Security Project Defense Council member, and an adjunct professor at George Washington University's Elliott School for International Affairs.
D.L.S. in ethnic, cultural minority, gender, and group studies, Georgetown University; M.S., National Intelligence University; B.S. in criminal justice, Norwich University
Spanish; Portuguese
