Meet Val Brusilovsky. A Ukrainian by birth, she served in Kyiv as a DOE/NNSA attaché during the Russian invasion -- and was honored for that service. But she's still awestruck by the work we do every day.
National Nuclear Security Administration
March 15, 2024
minute read time
How do you support NNSA?
I am a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation, supporting the DOE/NNSA Liaison Program. I form a bridge between NNSA and the Department of Defense’s Combatant Commands on cross-cutting policy and technical issues. I make sure we’re all talking and coordinating with each other.
What is your personal background, and how has that shaped you and your approach to your career?
My family and I moved here as political refugees from Kyiv, Ukraine (then Kiev, Ukraine, U.S.S.R.) the same year that the former Soviet Union disintegrated. My dad, an aerospace engineer and my mom, a mechanical engineer, spent their first months working night shifts, washing dishes, and doing anything they could to get by and support us. While my story is unique, there are others like me, who grew up with an acute understanding of the “American Dream,” and those fibers were woven into my daily life.
The principle of hard work, the value of humility, and the importance of gratitude guided my childhood. My parents have never complained about their situation, but persistently reminded me that I have opportunities that they were deprived of because I am a U.S. citizen.
Knowing that one of my dad’s dreams was to be a diplomat, negotiating with international partners on critical issues certainly altered how I viewed the world, and my desire to try to leave a positive mark on it.
What did you study in school and how did it impact you personally and professionally?
Piggybacking off my dad’s dream deferred, I majored in international relations and Spanish, having grown up bilingual (English and Russian). I always felt a sense of urgency to get started with the “real world”, so I applied for a 5-year program with at the University of Denver to earn a graduate degree by the end.
Rigorous, rewarding coursework coupled with incredible professors, and academically, intellectually, and emotionally challenging topics solidified for me that this was the right path. My Master of Arts focused on international security and reconciliation studies. When people asked what I do with these degrees, I simply answered that the next logical step was to eventually become Secretary of State. Ah, youth!
What led you to a career in nuclear security?
There was no “aha moment.” I didn’t know where my career would take me, but being where I am now, I cannot envisage any other mission I want to be a part of. My first foray into the world of nuclear was through a course in graduate school, but I didn’t specialize in nonproliferation or nuclear security studies. Even my first stint in D.C., interning at the State Department at the Nonproliferation and Disarmament Fund didn’t propel me toward a career in nuclear security. I was still uncertain when representatives from what is now the NNSA Graduate Fellowship Program came to speak. Still, I applied, interviewed, and was accepted, launching my NNSA career.
What is the best part about your job?
The best part about my job is how awe-inspiring the DOE and NNSA missions are. I get to work for the most innovative and complex organization in the U.S. Government. The best part is the mission we all support – nuclear security. But the people who support that mission are the reason I’ve stayed. I can name over 50 people across the Nuclear Security Enterprise who have empowered me, challenged me, and made me a better professional and a better person.
What is your proudest accomplishment while working at NNSA?
I helped convert one of Russia’s first civilian research reactors from using highly enriched uranium to low-enriched uranium fuel at an institute in Moscow. The work with Russia causes mixed feelings now, but I would never diminish it.
I would, however, juxtapose it with my proudest accomplishment: Serving as the Department of Energy Attaché to Embassy Kyiv from November 2020 to December 2022. Returning to Ukraine, a place I hadn’t been in 30 years in 2020, was the proudest moment of my parents’ lives. Returning (again) to Embassy Kyiv in 2022, as the first DOE representative to come back since Russia’s full-scale invasion, was the proudest moment of mine.
Tell us something interesting about yourself.
I grew up in Colorado and fell in love with the mountains and the outdoors. As a child, I started playing classical piano age 4, learned chess at 6, and later pursued gymnastics and dance. I was a cheerleader and captain of the debate team in high school. All of them have stuck with me. Oh, and a love of bad puns!
Do you have any highlights from your time supporting NNSA?
As a result of my work in Ukraine from 2020 to 2022, I was awarded NNSA’s Administrator Silver Medal, the second highest honorary award granted by NNSA. This was the most humbling experience I could have ever expected, during an exceptionally difficult time. An individual award was not something I expected to achieve during my time at NNSA, but equally as important was being recognized as part of a team. I received the Secretary’s Achievement Award for my role in the “Ukraine Detection Assistance Team,” which spanned the Offices of Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation and Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation. There was no greater pride for me, during an exceptionally difficult time, than to know that I was working alongside with colleagues and friends who cared as much as I did.
The best part about my job is how awe-inspiring the DOE and NNSA missions are. I get to work for the most innovative and complex organization in the U.S. Government.
What advice would you have for anyone interested in a career in nuclear security?
As civil servants, we serve the American people and hope that we can make a difference for the public good. There is no feeling more gratifying that knowing you have the privilege and the opportunity to fight for the freedom and security of the United States, our allies, and those who adhere to the same basic tenets that we do.
Who is someone that inspires you and why?
In no particular order:
- The people I’ve met at NNSA, across the interagency, and overseas – and the intellect, tenacity, and compassion they bring – reinforces the purpose of my own service.
- The Ukrainian people. The heroes and defenders fighting for their right to exist and their resilience, or “volya.”
- My mom and dad. They crossed an ocean with four suitcases on a promise that my sister and I would get to do what they were deprived of. Their courage changed the course of my life.
How do you plan to celebrate/commemorate Women’s History Month? Does this celebration have special meaning to you?
We’ve been in this fight for a long time, and to those who spoke up when remaining silent was the easier option, we are forever indebted to you. Women’s History Month was not officially observed until the year before I was born (1987). That is surreal. As Alice Walker wrote, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don't have any.”