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In academia, the private sector, government and media, Juliette Kayyem is a national leader in homeland security and crisis management.  She is currently the Robert and Renee Belfer Senior Lecturer and faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Professor Kayyem also serves as a national security analyst for CNN where she has been described as CNN’s “go to” for disasters. A frequent contributor to The Atlantic, she has a weekly security segment on NPR’s Boston station WGBH. Her most recent book, The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters, was described in a New Yorker profile as an “engagingly urgent blueprint for rethinking our approach to disaster preparedness and response.”

In government, she most recently served as President Obama’s Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. Previously, she was Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Homeland Security Advisor, a role that included overseeing the National Guard. She is the recipient of many government honors, including the Distinguished Public Service Award, the Coast Guard’s highest medal awarded to a civilian. She has also served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Advisory Committee where she co-authored its strategic assessment of critical infrastructure and cyber security vulnerabilities. 

Professor Kayyem is the author or editor of six books including the best-selling book “Security Mom” in 2016, a memoir that explores the intersection, and commonalities, of her life in homeland security and her life as a mother. In 2013, she was named the Pulitzer Prize finalist for editorial columns in the Boston Globe focused on ending the Pentagon’s combat exclusion rule against women, a policy that was changed that year. She won the Telly Award in 2021 for “excellence in a digital series” for her online documentaries on climate change with MyRadar.com. She is a frequent speaker and advisor to major corporations and associations on national and homeland security, planning for a crisis, cybersecurity and resiliency efforts. From 2020-2022, she served as faculty for a joint effort with Bloomberg Philanthropies and Harvard University to train mayors and city leaders for pandemic planning. 

Kayyem is also an innovative leader and consultant in the private sector. She is the CEO of Grip Mobility, a technology platform that provides audio and video capabilities for rideshare companies to increase the security for drivers and riders. She was named Inc. Magazine’s top 100 Female Founders in 2019. She is a Senior Advisor to Teneo, the global consulting firm, and also serves as a security advisor and consultant to several Fortune 500 companies and startups. 

In the past, Professor Kayyem has served as a member of the National Commission on Terrorism, as a legal advisor to US Attorney General Janet Reno, and a trial attorney and counselor in the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Trilateral Commission.  Kayyem is also a board member of Mass Inc. and the Red Cross of MA.

Kayyem spends considerable time advising public sector entities on crisis planning and response, mostly non-compensated. She also advises a number of private companies in the safety and security space. These include consulting contracts with Teneo Consulting; Ed Davis, LLC where she helps on strategic planning; and Get Group, NA, a passport identification company. She has equity in numerous companies, both startups and post-IPO companies, including Grip Mobility; Evolv (detection technology); Armored Things, AttackIQ, Preveil, and Inhibrx (biotechnology in therapeutics). She often provides short-term advice and speeches to numerous public and private companies.  She also has paid media contracts with CNN, The Atlantic and WGBH. 

A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Law School, and the mother of three children, she is married to First Circuit Court of Appeals Chief Judge David Barron.