Who is Shanti Sethi? Indian-American Navy veteran appointed as Kamala Harris' defence advisor

Indian-American US Navy veteran Shanti Sethi has been appointed as executive secretary and defence advisor of US Vice President Kamala Harris. Sethi is the first Indian-American commander of a major US Navy combat ship. 

She had joined US Vice President Harris' office recently. In her new role, she will be coordinating with National Security Advisor documentation across the Office of the Vice President.

Shanti Sethi had commanded USS Decatur, a guided-missile destroyer, from December 2010 to May 2012. She is the first female commander of a US naval vessel to visit India. 

Who is Shanti Sethi?

• Shanti Sethi is an Indian-American Naval officer, who joined the US Navy in 1993 when the combat exclusion law was still in effect. The law was lifted when she was an officer. 
• Sethi is the only Indian-American woman and the 15th female officer to command a major US Navy combat warship.
• She commanded USS Decatur, the guided missile destroyer from 15 December 2010 to May 2012.
• She served as the US Navy's Senior Military Advisor to the Secretary of the Navy from 2021-2022.  She was promoted to the rank of captain in 2015.
• She has now been appointed to the Office of the Vice President as Executive Secretary and Defense Advisor.
• She had graduated from Norwich University with a degree in International Affairs in 1993.

Shanti Sethi Family

• Shanti Sethi was born in Reno, Nevada in the United States. 
• Her mom was born in Canada and became a naturalised US citizen when she was 12 years.
• Her father had immigrated to the US from India in the early 1960s.

Significance

The US Vice President Kamala Harris is herself daughter of an Indian immigrant from Chennai. She had created history by becoming the first-ever woman Vice President of the United States. The 57-year-old is also the first person of Indian origin to be elected as the vice-president of the United States.