President Biden Announces His Intent to Nominate Key Members for the Department of Defense

WASHINGTON – Today, President Joe Biden announced his intent to nominate Ronald Moultrie for Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence & Security, Michael J. McCord for Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller), and Michael Brown for Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment.

Ronald S. Moultrie served on the Biden-Harris Presidential Transition Team focused on national security. He is the President and CEO of Oceanus Security Strategies (OSS), LLC. Moultrie retired as the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Director of Operations. Moultrie also served in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), was a member of Central Intelligence Agency’s (CIA) Senior Intelligence Service (SIS), and in the U.S. Air Force. Moultrie was a key principal on the Secretary of the Navy’s Cybersecurity Readiness Review and subsequently led the creation of the Department’s digital roadmap focused on cybersecurity, data, and emerging technologies such as AI, 5G, and Quantum computing.

Moultrie’s numerous awards include the Presidential Rank Award, two Department of the Navy Distinguished Civilian Service Awards, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, the National Intelligence Superior Service Medal, the CIA National Clandestine Service’s Donovan Award, the National Reconnaissance Office’s Gold Medal, and three NSA Exceptional Civilian Service Awards. Moultrie earned a Masters of Science degree from the National Intelligence University, and a Bachelors degree from the University of Maryland, magna cum laude.

Mike McCord previously served as Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer in the Obama-Biden administration, where he led the Department’s Recovery Act program and the resourcing of the Ebola response in 2014, and was awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service by four Secretaries of Defense. Prior to his service as Comptroller and Deputy Comptroller of the Department of Defense, he served for over two decades on the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and with the House Budget Committee and the Congressional Budget Office.

McCord is currently Director of Civil-Military Programs at the Stennis Center for Public Service, an adjunct research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, a Trustee of The Aerospace Corporation, and a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. He also served on the Biden-Harris Defense Agency Review Team and as a member of the Commission on the National Defense Strategy for the United States. He earned a B.A. degree with honors from the Ohio State University and a M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Brown served as the Director of the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) at the U.S. Department of Defense since 2018. Since 2018, DIU doubled the number of projects underway, transitioned 26 new capabilities to warfighters, doubled company participation in projects and introduced 70 first-time vendors to the Defense Department. From 2016 to 2018, Brown served as a White House Presidential Innovation Fellow at the Defense Department. He is the co-author of a Pentagon study on China’s participation in the U.S. venture ecosystem, a catalyst for the Foreign Risk Review Modernization Act (FIRRMA) providing expanded jurisdiction to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS). Additionally, he led efforts at the Defense Department to create National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) aimed at catalyzing private investment in dual-use hardware companies to diversify the supply chain with U.S. technology. Prior to Brown’s government service, he was the CEO of two public Silicon Valley technology leaders—Symantec, the largest cybersecurity firm at that time and Quantum, the largest global supplier of tape drives and of disk drives for personal computers.

He is a Trustee of the Berklee College of Music and previously served on the President’s Advisory Council at Berklee. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and last year co-authored a paper for the Brookings Institute on the technology competition with China, Preparing the United States for the Superpower Marathon. He received his BA degree in economics from Harvard University and his MBA degree from Stanford University.