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James Windle
Chief Operating Officer
Business Services Directorate
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
NGFP Class of 2002–2003
What is a favorite career highlight?
Working at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) was absolutely exhilarating. I got the job after collaborating with a senior OMB examiner as an NGFP fellow. I recall an OMB leader one time directing us to “bring our toothbrushes and sleeping bags” to the office. Combat operations in Iraq were nearing funds depletion, and Congress was debating the war supplemental funding late into the night. We weren’t to leave the office until we did our job in reviewing the funding and transmitting it to the Department of Defense. We did leave the office at 1 a.m., and I am proud of the work we did.
What is a favorite personal highlight?
When I ran for Congress years ago, I created a campaign stunt to jog with a five-foot log on my shoulder. I kept the log. On Memorial Day weekends, I do hero runs with the log as a symbolic gesture of respect for the fallen. The annual ritual of being completely broken down physically after the run (10 miles in recent years) leaves me feeling immeasurably grateful for the men and women who keep us safe.
What is a favorite NGFP memory?
Near the top of my NGFP memories was the first time I participated in a National Security Council Policy Coordination Committee (PCC) meeting at the Old Executive Office Building in the White House complex. At 4 p.m., my boss pops his head in my office. He asks me to go with him to the PCC as his “plus one” because I was familiar with the issue. A driver takes us in a black sedan across D.C. in rush hour to be dropped off near a Secret Service security checkpoint. Six months prior, I was writing papers on nonproliferation in graduate school. How do you beat that feeling?!
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