Mr. Preston C. Dunlap is the first Chief Architect Officer of the Space Force and Air Force and oversees the architecture of the Department’s nearly $70 billion of research, development, and acquisition programs. He creates partnerships across the Defense and Intelligence Communities to transform technology development and acquisition so the Department not only designs, develops, and buys the right mix of future capability but does so more rapidly and with the power of agility and interoperability. Mr. Dunlap has spearheaded or incubated critical modernization efforts, including Commercial Space integration, Data and Artificial Intelligence, Digital Transformation, Joint All-Domain Command and Control, Advanced Battle Management System, Integrated Warfighting Networks, Autonomy, Human-Machine Teaming, and Next Generation Air Dominance.
Prior to this position, Mr. Dunlap was the Executive for National Security and Executive Leadership Board member of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the nation’s largest University Affiliated Research Center. There he oversaw national security defense and intelligence programs at all levels of classification and managed an extensive and diverse organization of program managers, technologists, analysts, and operators. He led programs in support of the Vice President of the United States, Cabinet Secretaries, the Secretary of Defense, and the Director of National Intelligence. Mr. Dunlap served on the corporate Executive Leadership Board of the Laboratory. At the request of Congress, he also testified before the full House Armed Services Committee.
Before joining the Laboratory in 2014, Mr. Dunlap was a career member of the Senior Executive Service and served four Secretaries of Defense. He held the roles of Director of Program Analysis, Chief of Staff to the Senate-confirmed Director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, Senior Analyst for Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) and Space Programs, and Deputy Director of the Simulation and Analysis Center. He shaped the Department of Defense $650 billion budget as well as associated Intelligence Community and National Nuclear Security Administration plans. Mr. Dunlap led the Long Range Strike Front End Assessment and started the B-21 bomber program as well as future weapons, hypersonics, intelligence, electronic warfare, and communications capabilities. He was hand-selected by the Secretary of Defense to help lead the Strategic Choices and Management Review where he identified $50 billion of savings per year to meet the Budget Control Act.
Prior to government, Mr. Dunlap held various roles in the private sector as an early member of rapidly growing technology startup companies.
He earned a Master of Science degree with honors in Operations Research and Management Science from George Mason University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in both Computer Science and Political Science from Duke University. Mr. Dunlap is Lean Six Sigma certified and is a graduate of the Harvard University National Security Senior Executive program and the Federal Executive Institute and served on the Board of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Seminar XXI program. Mr. Dunlap’s awards include the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Civilian Service, Secretary of the Air Force Award for Meritorious Civilian Service, and multiple citations of both the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service and Secretary of Defense Award for Excellence.