Claire is the Assistant Head of Nuclear Deterrence at the UK Ministry of Defence, a role she has held since the start of 2019. She first encountered nuclear policy in her previous role as Private Secretary to the Cabinet Secretary and National Security Advisor in the Cabinet Office. Before this she was an operational policy advisor at the Permanent Joint Headquarters and in Bahrain, working for the UK Maritime Component Command. Previous roles in the UK civil service have focussed on policy development and implementation and she has worked across both domestic policy in the Department of Health and the Department for Work and Pensions, as well as national security policy in the Ministry of Defence. She studied Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Manchester and the National University of Singapore.