SEPTEMBER 15, 2023 – Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro announced today the establishment of the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology Board (DON STB) federal advisory committee.
The board will provide independent advice and counsel to the Department of the Navy (DON) on matters and policies relating to scientific, technical, manufacturing, acquisition, logistics, medicine and business management functions.
Consistent with the guidance directed by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III for the governance of independent advisory boards, the DON looked to the nation’s talented, innovative private and public sector leaders, whose services will provide a more diverse and inclusive perspective that promotes variety in background, experience, and thought in support of the Board’s mission.
The DON STB includes national security leaders who have served as Deputy Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Navy, White House Director for Cybersecurity, and Chief Naval Architect. It includes industry executives with both technology and manufacturing expertise, as well as noted thought leaders from national research universities and University-Affiliated Research Center Laboratories.
“We are eager to have the DON STB work with us to amplify existing initiatives and suggest new possibilities that will strengthen our warfighting capabilities,” said Secretary Del Toro. “I look forward to meeting with our nation’s leading experts, many of whom have served in multiple roles within the government, academia, and industry.”
Secretary Austin appointed former Secretary of the Navy Dr. Richard Danzig to serve as the Chair of the DON STB. The Honorable Danzig brings more than 40 years of experience as an expert on national security and intelligence strategy. He has a proven record of achieving high levels of organizational productivity and efficiency and is a recognized leader in the integration of technical, operational and strategic perspectives. He served as the 71st Secretary of the Navy from November 1998 to January 2001 and as the Under Secretary of the Navy between 1993 and 1997. He has been a member of the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board and the Defense Policy Board. From the spring of 2007 through the Presidential election of 2008, the Honorable Danzig was a senior advisor to then-Senator Obama on national security issues.
“I am honored to be appointed as the Chair of the DON STB,” said the Honorable Danzig. “The board’s highest priority will be to work with leaders in the Department of the Navy to match new opportunities in science and technology with present service needs.”
The Board will host its first meeting Sep. 22, 2023. This partially closed meeting will include classified discussions on topics tasked by Secretary Del Toro.
The Vice Chair of the DON STB will be Mr. Howard Fireman, former Chief Architect of the Navy. The Board’s Designated Federal Official will be Ms. Maria Proestou, a former industry executive highly qualified expert serving as strategic acquisition advisor to the Department of the Navy.
DON STB Members in addition to the Honorable Danzig and Mr. Fireman are:
- Andrew G. Alleyne, Dean of the College of Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota
- Jose L. Arrieta, CEO, Imagineer; Former Chief Information Officer, and Chief Data Officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
- Jesse H. Ausubel, Director, Program for the Human Environment at the Rockefeller University
- Steve G. Blank, Adjunct Professor, Stanford University; Co-Creator of Hacking for Defense; Author, Four Steps to the Epiphany
- Lance Collins, Vice President & Executive Director, Virginia Tech Innovation campus
- Christine Fox, Former Acting Deputy Secretary of Defense; Former Director, DoD Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation (CAPE); Senior Fellow, John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
- James R. Gosler, Former Assistant Director Sandia National Laboratories, National Security Agency Visiting Scientist; Retired Capt., U.S. Navy; Senior Fellow at John Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory
- Samuel Graham, Dean of the Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland
- Chris Inglis, Former White House U.S. National Cyber Director, Former National Security Agency Chief Operating Officer; Retired Brig. Gen., U.S. Air Force; Visiting Professor of Cyber Studies, U.S. Naval Academy
- Thomas R. Kurfess, Chief Manufacturing Officer, Georgia Institute of Technology and Executive Director of the Georgia Tech Manufacturing Institute
- Cara LaPointe, Retired Capt., U.S. Navy; Co-Director, John Hopkins Institute for Assured Autonomy; Adjunct professor, Edmund Walsh School of Foreign Service
- Justin Norman, Maj., U.S. Marine Corps Reserve; Technical Director for Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU)
- Gregory Robinson, Former Program Director of the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA; Faculty, Columbia University, School of Professional Studies
- Jocelyn Seng, Retired Maj. Gen., U.S. Air Force; Consultant, Institute for Defense Analyses
- Robert Work, Former Deputy Secretary of Defense and Under Secretary of the Navy; Retired Col., U.S. Marine Corps; President, TeamWork, LLC.