James Miller
Dr. James N. Miller is Assistant Director for Policy and Analysis at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. In this role, he helps create national security and research priorities for more than 8,000 staff members performing innovative research and development for the Department of Defense, NASA, the Intelligence Community, and other federal agencies. He serves concurrently on the National Security Council staff as U.S. Coordinator for Australia-United Kingdom-United States (AUKUS) Initiatives including conventionally-armed nuclear powered submarines and other advanced capabilities.
Dr. Miller has served twice in Senate-confirmed positions. As Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2012 to 2014, he was the principal civilian advisor to Secretaries Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel on strategy, policy, and operations, and served as DoD’s Deputy for National Security Council policy-making and crisis management. He served as Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy under Secretaries Robert Gates and Leon Panetta from 2009 to 2012, where he oversaw major departmental reviews including the Quadrennial Defense Review, Nuclear Posture Review, Ballistic Missile Defense Review, Defense Strategic Guidance, Space Posture Review, and Defense Cyber Strategy. For his contributions in these roles, Dr. Miller was awarded the Department of Defense’s highest civilian award, the Medal for Distinguished Public Service, four times.
Prior stints in government include serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Requirements, Plans and Counterproliferation Policy under Secretary William Cohen from 1997 to 2000, and as senior professional staff member for the House Armed Services Committee under Chairman Les Aspin from 1988 to 1992. Past positions in the private and non-profit sectors include serving as President of Adaptive Strategies, LLC from 2014 to 2021; Senior Vice President and Director of Studies at the Center for a New American Security from 2007 to 2009; Vice President and then Senior Vice President at Hicks and Associates, Inc. from 2001 to 2007; and Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Duke University from 1992 to 1997.
Dr. Miller received a B.A. degree with honors in economics from Stanford University, where he played varsity tennis. He earned Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in public policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is a member of the Defense Science Board, the National Security Agency Advisory Board’s Cybersecurity Panel, and the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s Panel on Cybersecurity Resilience, as well as the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Council on Foreign Relations.