Starnes Walker

Global Strategy Officer, Defense and Homeland Security

Starnes Walker is the Global Strategy Officer for Defense and Homeland Security that includes responsibilities for the Department of Defense (DoD), DHS, and the Intelligence Community (IC) for ANDE Corporation–providing Rapid DNA capabilities to the government and military to enhance national security globally. Walker now serves as a standing member supporting the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Board and just completed his term on the Air Force Studies Board representing The National Academies. He serves a member of the Homeland Security Experts Group under the auspices of MITRE. Walker also holds current appointments on the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Science Advisory Board and as Senior Advisor to the National Nuclear Security Administration’s National Security Campus.

Walker previously served as the Founding Director of the University of Delaware Cybersecurity Initiative (UDCSI), with a key focus on corporate cybersecurity in the banking/financial, energy, chemical, and electrical-grid industrial sectors. As the former Chief Technology Officer and Technical Director for cyber for the U.S. Navy, Walker served in the Senior Executive Service billet to stand-up the U.S. Fleet Cyber Command and the U.S. 10th Fleet. In this role, he oversaw all technical activities that spanned inter-governmental and international outreach of the command, with a combined military and civilian workforce of 18,000 personnel.

Walker previously served as the DHS’ Director of Research, with responsibility for the Office of National Laboratories, the Office of University Programs that included the DHS Centers of Excellence, the four DHS in-house laboratories and Technology and Education Centers, and the Academic Fellowship and Scholarship Program Office. Additionally, he served as the Department’s senior science and technology (S&T) leadership executive to Office of Science & Technology Policy, Congress, the IC, and other government organizations internationally. Prior to this, Walker served as the Office of Naval Research Executive Director and Chief Scientist reporting directly to the Chief of Naval Research to lead an organization that ensures technological superiority for the Navy and Marine Corps, overseeing an annual budget of more than $2.2B and supervising 5,494 personnel.

Previous positions included as founding Associate Laboratory Director for National Security and as National Security Coordinator at Argonne National Laboratory. Walker also served as the Senior Advisor for S&T, to stand up the Defense Threat Reduction Agency from 1999-2003. In this role, he was a standing member of DoD’s Defense Science & Technology Advisory Group and a senior S&T executive within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He developed critical programs and aligned strategic defense, homeland security, and intelligence organizations across the globe, forging key partnerships with the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, Israel, Sweden, the European Union, and NATO.

His government tenure included a Deputy Secretary of Defense-appointment to serve as Chairman-Joint Laboratory Board of the Joint Improvised Explosive Devices Defeat Organization. Previous board-level positions include as a member of the Aspen Institute Homeland Security Group, Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s Strategic Advisory Group, and Purdue University’s Global Affairs Strategic Advisory Council.

Walker is the recipient of the DoD Exceptional Civilian Service Medal as well as the R&D 100 Award. He also led his Morrison Knudsen team’s achievement in Project Sapphire, for which they received a Presidential Citation. He is widely published in the fields of physics, chemistry, optics, and signal processing. He was a Navy fellow and recipient of three consecutive Naval Weapons Fellowship awards. He holds a bachelor’s, a master’s, and a doctorate degree in physics from the University of California and an honorary degree in nuclear engineering from the University of Missouri-Rolla.