Effective 1 December 2008, Dr. Lavoy joined the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) as the Deputy Director of National Intelligence for Analysis (DDNI/A) and Chairman of the National Intelligence Council. Previously, Dr. Lavoy held the position of National Intelligence Officer for South Asia from October 2007 to November 2008. Prior to joining the ODNI, Dr. Lavoy directed the Center for Contemporary Conflict and taught in the National Security Affairs Department of the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterrey, California.

Dr. Lavoy has written numerous journal articles and book chapters on a wide array of subjects related to South Asian security and weapons proliferation. His edited books are Planning the Unthinkable: How New Powers Will Use Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Weapons (2000); Nuclear Weapons Proliferation in the Next Decade (2007); Terrorism, War, or Disease: Unraveling the Use of Biological Weapons (2008); and Asymetric Warfare in South Asia: The Causes and Consequences of the Kargil Conflict (forthcoming, 2009).

Dr. Lavoy served in the Office of Secretary of Defense in 2000 as Principal Director for Requirements, Plans and Counterproliferation Policy, and from 1998 to 2000 as Director for Counterproliferation Policy. He received a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley and a B.A. in Government from Oberlin College. He has traveled extensively throughout South Asia and speaks Hindi, Urdu and French.