Kathy J. Warden is the Chair, CEO, and President of Northrop Grumman, a massive American aerospace and defense technology company. An expert in cybersecurity and information technology, Warden rose through the ranks to take the helm in 2019. Under her leadership, Northrop Grumman is responsible for executing the most highly classified, complex, and astronomically expensive engineering projects in the US Department of Defense portfolio. In 2026, Warden is the primary steward of the American nuclear triad modernization. She successfully oversaw the highly secretive rollout and first flights of the B-21 Raider, the world’s first sixth-generation stealth bomber. However, she is fighting a brutal political and financial war regarding the Sentinel program—the massive project to replace the aging Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). With Sentinel facing catastrophic cost overruns exceeding 80%, Warden is aggressively defending the program in front of a highly skeptical, budget-slashing Congress, arguing it is an existential requirement for US nuclear deterrence.