Kathleen Rhem is the Deputy Director of DLA Public Affairs. She most recently served as the Communications Manager for DLA Human Resources, overseeing the employee communications efforts surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, the DoD Anti-extremism Stand Down, the roll-out of the DoD Performance Management and Appraisal Program, multiple government shutdowns, and the OPM data breach. She previously served as Chief of News and Web Operations in DLA Public Affairs and is a former Managing Editor of American Forces Press Service (now DoD News Service). As an AFPS writer/editor under three defense secretaries, Rhem covered the events of 9/11 from the Pentagon and DoD/government operations in some 40 countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan and Kosovo.
Rhem served 13 years as a public affairs specialist in the U.S. Army, leaving active duty in 2002 as a sergeant first class. Her military career included United Nations and NATO deployments to Macedonia and Bosnia, as well as assignments in 3rd Infantry Division, tactical signal and air defense artillery brigades, and the Military District of Washington. She has won several awards for writing and editing from the Army, Defense Department and National Association of Government Communicators.
She is originally from Northern Illinois, is married to a retired Army chief warrant officer, and has three adult daughters.