Dr. Margaret D.M. Barber ’00 Announced As Career Day 2025 Keynote Speaker 

Dr. Barber is a national security researcher in the Strategy, Forces, and Resources Division at the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center supporting the U.S. Department of Defense. For over a decade, she has worked on some of the nation’s most pressing security challenges, including counterinsurgency trends in Iraq and Afghanistan, evaluations of Department of Defense policy and security cooperation programs, and Red Teaming the Secretary of Defense’s National Defense Strategy.

Before joining IDA, Dr. Barber refined biodefense and civil unrest early warning methodologies as Operations Chief for the Civil Unrest Division at Veratect Corporation and as Senior Analyst for Africa at Georgetown University’s Argus Program. She provides expert analyses to the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and State, specializing in strategy development, strategic futures, PPBE process improvement, and metrics development. Her core competencies include strategic and program assessments, institutional capacity building, counterinsurgency and irregular warfare, conflict early warning, and emergency preparedness.

Dr. Barber is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University, teaching strategy-building and Red Teaming. She is a member of the Truman National Security Project.

Beyond her professional work, Barber is an avid equestrian with 25 years of experience training under U.S. Equestrian Team members. She specializes in sport horse rehabilitation, particularly working with severely injured or previously abused horses. She is a U.S. Dressage Federation Bronze Medalist.