Mary Monica Palmer is currently the Head of Government Affairs at Epirus, a unicorn defense technology start-up developing advanced directed energy systems that enable counter-electronics effects, including Counter-Unmanned Aerial (C-UAS) and C-UAS swarm systems.

Prior to Epirus, she served at the Pentagon as a Policy Advisor on Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Affairs in the Middle East Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, where she managed bilateral defense relationships with U.S. partners and allies, as well in the Homeland Defense and Global Security division of OSD (Policy), where she advanced policy guidance in the areas of defense continuity and mission assurance. Previously, Mary Monica served at the State Department in the Office of Policy Planning as a Speechwriter to the Secretary of State and Deputy Secretary of State, as well as the Special Assistant to the Director of Policy Planning.

Prior to the interagency, Mary Monica served in the U.S. Senate, working for former U.S. Senator Richard Burr both on Capitol Hill and in the state of North Carolina. She has previously worked for The Center for Education Reform, The Heritage Foundation’s Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, and for RealClear Politics’ RealClear Defense platform.

A native Washingtonian, she holds a B.A. from Wake Forest University in Politics and International Affairs, and Middle East and South Asia Studies, and was a Publius Fellow and Speechwriters Fellow of the Claremont Institute.