Defense & Congressional Advisory · Washington, D.C.
Sanderling Strategies helps organizations navigate the defense enterprise and the congressional process with the judgment that only comes from decades inside both. Clear counsel. No noise.
Start a Conversation Our ServicesWhat We Do
Strategy for engaging the authorization and appropriations process — from building the case for a program to preparing leaders for testimony and member-level engagement.
Practical guidance on how decisions actually move through the Department of Defense: who owns the issue, where the leverage points are, and how to time your approach.
Senior-level counsel for executives, boards, and government-affairs teams — legislative forecasting, message discipline, and honest assessments of what is and isn't achievable.
Leadership
Kathryn Yurkanin founded Sanderling Strategies after a career spent at the seam between the Department of Defense and the United States Congress — first in uniform, then in the most senior ranks of the civil service.
A retired Army officer and retired member of the Senior Executive Service, she served as a Congressional Deputy in the Pentagon, where she guided the Department's engagement with Capitol Hill through authorization cycles, appropriations fights, hearings, and the daily work of keeping two branches of government talking to each other.
She brings that perspective to clients directly: no layers, no hand-offs, and no advice she hasn't tested against how the building — and the Hill — actually work.
Commissioned officer with a career of leadership in demanding assignments.
Congressional Deputy in the Pentagon, leading legislative engagement at the Department's most senior levels.
Why "Sanderling"
The sanderling is a small shorebird that lives at the water's edge — quick, precise, and constantly reading the shifting line between land and sea. It's how we work the seam between the Pentagon and Congress: always at the edge where things change, always a step ahead of the wave.
We track the legislative and budget environment continuously, so clients act on where things are going — not where they were last cycle.
Engagement is targeted and well-timed. The right issue, the right office, the right moment — nothing scattered, nothing wasted.
The most valuable ground is the seam between institutions. We help clients hold it with credibility on both sides.
Contact
Engagements begin with a conversation. Reach out to discuss your objectives and whether Sanderling Strategies is the right fit.
Email the Firm info@sanderlingstrategies.com 571.235.5813