Department of Defense

Bio, via LinkedIn:

Senior manager with over 15 years experience in strategic planning and national security. Recent experience in the administration of all homeland defense capabilities and missions, including defense department support to homeland security. Proven record of process improvement; used effective communications skill to introduce new technology and solve complex problem sets.

Bio, via LinkedIn:

Retired U.S. Navy Officer (29+ years) with a certified specialty in strategic studies and analysis. Senior Naval Strategist. In a community of innovative problems solvers, known for creativity, originality, and unconventional analysis and solutions. Specialties: Leadership, Administration, Project Management, Strategic Planning, Intelligence, Interagency Coordination, Personal Networking, Writing, Research, Command, cross-functional teams. StrengthFinder Top 5: 1. Strategic 2. Achiever 3. Learner 4. Ideation 5. Arranger Led and participated in 7 start-up organizations within the Special Operations Community. Held five significant strategist positions.

Bio, via White House:

Mr. Ney has most recently served as Chief Deputy Attorney General in the Tennessee Attorney General’s Office, where he coordinated and supervised the substantive legal work of all divisions of the office. Mr. Ney has been a partner in Patterson Intellectual Property Law, P.C., in Nashville, Tennessee. He previously served as Acting General Counsel of the Department of the Navy, as Principal Deputy General Counsel of the Department of the Navy, and as Deputy General Counsel for Legal Counsel in the Department of Defense. He is a recipient of the Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal and Department of the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award. Mr. Ney received his Juris Doctor and Masters in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University and his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology from Cornell University. He served as a judicial clerk to the Honorable Adrian Duplantier in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Niemeyer worked in the private sector as the founder of The Niemeyer Group, LLC. He also served from 2003 to 2014 on the professional staff of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services where he was responsible for a wide portfolio of national security programs, including military installations and ranges, world-wide basing, energy programs, facility privatization initiatives, military budgets, unit readiness, industrial base, and environmental issues. He also provided oversight for military logistics and sustainment programs as well as Air Force and Navy acquisition programs. Mr. Niemeyer is an Air Force veteran, retiring in 2008 at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel with 15 years of active and 5 years of Air National Guard service working within the installation engineering and military plans community. Mr. Niemeyer holds a Bachelor of Architecture, from the University of Notre Dame, a Master of Business Administration from The George Washington University, and a Master of National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Dr. Milan “Mitch” Nikolich is the Director of Defense Research and Engineering for Research and Technology and serves as the principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering on all of the Department’s research and technology investments. He also serves as the Mission Area Advisor for National Defense Strategy technology development implementation and oversees activities in Microelectronics, Cyber, Quantum Science, Directed Energy and Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence. He establishes the Department’s annual strategic Science and Technology investment strategy, issues policy and guidance for aligning the Department’s Science and Technology investment to this strategy, and conducts reviews to ensure progress toward the Department’s goals. Dr. Nikolich also serves as the Department’s chief steward and advocate for defense laboratory infrastructure and science and technology workforce. He serves as the lead for ensuring the Department of Defense maintains its technological advantage through strategic research and technology investments. He also has responsibilities for the establishment and implementation of protection methodologies to mitigate the risk of loss of critical technologies to determined adversaries. Dr. Nikolich has held senior positions with SAIC, CACI, National Security Research Inc., Defense Group Inc., W.J. Schafer Associates and served in the Physics Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory. He also served on the Congressional Commission to Assess the Threat to the U.S. from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack and was a part-time faculty member at George Washington University. He was technical contributor to the Strategic Defense Initiative, the establishment of the Department’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction program, the advancement of the U.S. nuclear weapons program and has been a member of a number of U.S. arms control delegations. Dr. Nikolich earned a Bachelor of Science degree Electrical Engineering in 1981, a Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1983, and his Doctor of Philosophy in 1985 in Electrical and Computer Engineering, all from the State University of New York at Buffalo. His area of emphasis was in plasma devices and pulsed power systems.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Prior to his current role in the Department of Defense he was a Partner with Kearney and Company, a CPA firm that provides audit, accounting and consulting services to the Federal government. His career as a federal employee included providing financial management leadership at virtually every level at which the Federal government spends or oversees the expenditure of money. This includes eight years with the Department of the Army working at Army Headquarters, at a Major Command and at a field site; five years as professional staff on the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Defense; and four years as Deputy Under Secretary of Defense in the office of the Comptroller. From 2006 to the end of 2008, Mr. Norquist served as the first Senate confirmed Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Homeland Security. As CFO, he established a formal process to eliminate pervasive weaknesses in DHS’s financial statement and put DHS on its path to a clean audit opinion. From FY 2006 to FY 2008, DHS reduced the number of material weaknesses by 40% and the number of department-wide audit disclaimer conditions by 70%. Mr. Norquist holds both a BA in Political Science and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Michigan and an MA in National Security Studies from Georgetown University. He co-authored DHS: The Road to a ‘Clean’ Opinion, Journal of Government Financial Management (Summer 2014) and is author of The Defense Budget: Is it Transformational? Joint Force Quarterly (Summer 2002). He and his wife Stephanie reside in Virginia with their three children.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Ms. Pearce has held a number of positions in the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government, including: Associate Deputy General Counsel, DoD Office of General Counsel, Personnel and Health Policy; Senior Defense Advisor to Senator Susan Collins; Staff Lead and Counsel of the Subcommittee on Readiness, Staff Lead of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and Counsel of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, Committee on Armed Services, U.S. House of Representatives. Ms. Pearce has also served as an advisor on criminal appellate issues to Chief Judge Andrew S. Effron, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and during her time on active duty as an aide to the Secretary of the Air Force and assistant executive to the Judge Advocate General. Additionally, from 2003 to 2007 she was assigned as an adjunct faculty instructor of criminal law and trial practice at the Air Force Judge Advocate General’s School. The American Bar Association has appointed Ms. Pearce to serve as an advisor to the Standing Committee on Armed Forces Law and the Standing Committee on Law and National Security. She has served on a number of boards, including the Judge Advocate General’s School Foundation and the Nevada Rape Crisis Center. Additionally, in 2012 she served on the Romney Transition Team as the Deputy Team Lead for national security appointments. Her awards include the United States Air Force Alfred M. Kuhfeld Outstanding Judge Advocate of the Year and the Ritchey Leadership Award. She is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the Air Force Court of Criminal Appeals. Ms. Pearce received her B.A., cum laude, from Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. from the University of Connecticut.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Prior to joining OSD Policy, Mr. de la Peña was an independent consultant and defense contractor focused on business development in the Americas, an instructor of defense, security, and leadership courses to government officials, and a frequent commentator on Spanish-speaking national and international news media. Mr. de la Peña, a retired U.S. Army officer, served for 30 years as an Air Defense and Foreign Area officer in a variety of staff and leadership positions. In his last assignment, he served as the U.S. Northern Command J59, Chief of the International Affairs Division, responsible for developing the command’s theater engagement strategy that provided military to military guidance for training, exchanges, exercises, and sales with Canada and Mexico. As Commander, U.S. Military Observer Group-Washington, Colonel de la Peña recruited, trained, and deployed U.S. armed service personnel to U.N. observer missions in trouble spots on four continents. In Chile, he served as U.S. Army Section Chief, strengthening military ties by significantly increasing training and exchange events, as well as being instrumental in the sales of $750 million in military hardware. He also served as the U.S. Army Attaché in Venezuela, as a test officer who developed, tested, and fielded a low intensity conflict simulation project focused on the Western Hemisphere, and as the program manager who initiated the U.S.-Spanish Army staff talks. As an Air Defense officer, he served in short to high range altitude units that included Chaparral, HAWK, and Patriot systems. He earned his airborne wings and ranger tab as a cadet. Mr. de la Peña was born in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico and raised near Roswell, New Mexico. He was an ROTC graduate from the University of Iowa, where he earned a B.S. in psychology. While attending the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College he earned a Master of Military Art and Science degree. He attended the Inter-American Defense College with Class of 42 – “¡La mejor!”

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Prior to joining ANSER Mr. Rapuano was the Director of Advanced Systems at the MITRE Corporation. He was responsible for guiding crosscutting strategic national and homeland security mission initiatives, with particular focus on counterterrorism, intelligence, aviation security, crisis management/decision support, national preparedness, and CWMD. Previously, Mr. Rapuano served at the White House as Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to President George W. Bush from 2004-2006. He was responsible for managing the development and implementation of homeland security policies among departments and agencies, chaired the Homeland Security Council Deputies Committee, and co-chaired the White House Counterterrorism Security Group. He left the White House in 2006 to volunteer for deployment as a Marine Corps officer to Afghanistan with a Joint Special Operations Task Force, establishing and directing a targeting fusion center tracking high-value terrorists and insurgents. He also served in Iraq in 2003, commanding the Joint Interrogations and Debriefing Center of the Iraq Survey Group established to conduct the mission of surveying and exploiting possible weapons of mass destruction activities across Iraq. In 2003, Mr. Rapuano was appointed Deputy Under Secretary for Counter Terrorism at the Department of Energy, responsible for nuclear counter terrorism, homeland security, emergency response, and all related special access programs for DOE and the National Nuclear Security Administration. Previous to that, he was the National Security Advisor to the Secretary of Energy. Mr. Rapuano has also served as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense, International Security Policy. He served 21 years on active duty and in the reserves as a Marine Corps infantry officer and intelligence officer. Mr. Rapuano has also served as a Distinguished Research Fellow at the National Defense University’s Center for the Study of WMD, as a member of the Defense Science Board Task Force on the Role of DoD in Homeland Defense, the Pacific Northwest National Lab’s National Security Advisory Committee, the FBI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Directorate Advisory Group, the DHS Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Advisory Committee, and the DHS Science and Technology Advisory Committee. Mr. Rapuano received a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Middlebury College, a master's degree in National Security Studies from Georgetown University, and has attended the Marine Corps Air-Ground Task Force Intelligence Officer Course at the Navy and Marine Corps Intelligence School.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Prior to joining the Trump Administration, Mr. Roberts led a distinguished career in the United States Marine Corps as an infantry officer, judge advocate, and staff officer. He went on to serve as the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Arms Control and Nonproliferation Policy for the Department of Defense, and then as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Weapons of Mass Destruction Policy and Director for Nuclear Deterrence Policy before becoming an independent consultant and adjunct professor. Mr. Roberts earned a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science from Arizona State University, a law degree from the University of Denver, and he holds masters’ degrees in international and comparative law from Georgetown University, in international relations from the University of Southern California, and in strategic studies from the Naval War College where he graduated with highest distinction and won the Stephen B. Luce Award for academic achievement. He is admitted to practice in Colorado, California, Arizona, and before the Military Court of Criminal Appeals and the US Supreme Court, and he is a member of the International Law of War Society.

Bio, via Department of Defense:

Mr. Rood brings more than three decades of public and private sector experience to this position, including over 20 years of service in the U.S. Government at the Department of State, Department of Defense, National Security Council, Central Intelligence Agency, and as a Staff Member in the U.S. Senate. At the Department of State, he served as Acting Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security, and as Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation. Mr. Rood served in the Department of Defense as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Forces Policy. He served twice at the National Security Council where he was a Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Counterproliferation, as well as the Director of Proliferation Strategy, Counterproliferation, and Homeland Defense. At the Central Intelligence Agency, he served as an analyst following missile programs in foreign countries. In addition, Mr. Rood worked as a Senior Policy Advisor to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona. In the private sector, Mr. Rood was Senior Vice President of Lockheed Martin International where he led efforts to grow the corporation’s international business. He also served as Vice President for Corporate Domestic Business Development at Lockheed Martin. Prior to joining Lockheed Martin, he was a Vice President at the Raytheon Company. Mr. Rood holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from Arizona State University.