Linda Bilmes

Linda J. Bilmes
Former Assistant Secretary and CFO of U.S. Department of Commerce
In office 1999–2001
President	Bill Clinton
Personal details
Born	1960 (age 63–64)
Nationality	American
Alma mater	Harvard University Harvard Business School, University of Oxford

Linda J. Bilmes (born 1960) is an American public policy expert who is the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Senior Lecturer Chair in Public Policy and Public Finance at Harvard University. She is a faculty member at the Harvard Kennedy School where she teaches public policy, budgeting and public finance. She served as Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer of the US Department of Commerce during the presidency of Bill Clinton.^[1]

Bilmes is credited with drawing attention to the cost of the Iraq War and to the long-term cost of caring for returning Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans.^[2] She is the recipient of the 2008 “Speaking Truth to Power” Award from the American Friends Service Committee. Bilmes serves as the United States member of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Public Administration (CEPA), appointed in 2017 by the Secretary General of the United Nations and re-appointed to a second term from 2021 to 2025. She is a contributor to the Watson Institute's Costs of War Project. She has testified to the US Congress regarding the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the long-term consequences for providing veterans care. She co-authored the centennial study of the economic value of the US National Parks System, which established a baseline value of $92 billion for the parks and programs and co-authored a book on the economic value of national parks.^[3]

Bilmes is a faculty affiliate of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government, the Taubman Center for State and Local Government, the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. At Harvard, Bilmes founded and directs the Rappaport Greater Boston Applied Field Lab, a program in which teams of students work in local communities on budgeting and financial challenges. She leads budgeting workshops and training sessions for newly elected Mayors and Members of Congress run by the Harvard Institute of Politics. Bilmes also teaches and conducts research at the Blavatnik School of Government at Oxford University, where she was a visiting fellow at Brasenose College. She is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. She is vice chair of Economists for Peace and Security and serves on the board of the Institute for Veterans and Military Families.^[4]