Elizabeth Turpen
Dr. Elizabeth (Libby) Turpen is currently the President of Octant Associates, LLC, and an adjunct at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA). Libby provides high-level client support in her areas of expertise, leads Octant’s business development efforts, and mentors young professionals pursuing national security policy-related careers. Prior to co-founding Octant in 2013, she worked at Booz Allen Hamilton where she provided Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (CWMD) policy and technical expertise to clients at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and the Department of Defense (DOD).
As an adjunct at IDA, Dr. Turpen supported the Congressional Advisory Panel on Nuclear Security Governance and authoring of its report entitled A New Foundation for the Nuclear Security Enterprise (2014). She also led research and analysis of the NNSA Laboratories in support of the Commission to Review the Effectiveness of the National Energy Laboratories (CRENEL) that produced Securing America’s Future: Realizing the Potential of the DOE’s National Laboratories (2015).
Previously, Libby was a Senior Associate at the Stimson Center where she spearheaded programs focused on the future of the nuclear weapons laboratories, WMD and transnational threats, and technology governance. She was the primary author of Leveraging Science for Security: A Strategy for the Nuclear Weapons Laboratories in the 21st Century (2009) and co-authored Cooperative Nonproliferation: Getting Further, Faster (2005).
Dr. Turpen also served in the Office of Senator Pete Domenici (1998-2001) as a senior advisor on defense, nonproliferation and foreign affairs. In addition to authoring numerous articles and reports throughout her career, she has taught in an adjunct capacity at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, as well as at Georgetown University. Dr. Turpen holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and was graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from the University of New Mexico.