Ryan Henry

Ryan Henry rejoined CSIS in November 2008 as a nonresident senior adviser. Previously, from 2002 to 2008, he was principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy, where revamped the strategic and operational planning processes at the Department of Defense (DOD), restructured DOD corporate organization, and opened new DOD business lines in the homeland, Africa, and cyberspace. In addition, he was the lead for crisis response and the point man for relevant diplomatic, media, and congressional interaction. He revitalized highly classified/special access programs’ relevancy and served as COO for a 1,500-person organization within DOD. From 1997 to 2002, Mr. Henry was senior vice president at SAIC in La Jolla, California, where he directed business and technology investment on behalf of the company’s CEO and founder. Earlier, from 1996 to 1997, he was a senior fellow in the International Security Program at CSIS. Mr. Henry served as an officer in the U.S. Navy from 1972 to 1996, where he commanded three front-line combat units (including the navy’s most decorated squadron), fought in Desert Storm and Vietnam, and was awarded the Bronze Star for Valor and numerous Air Medals, including “Navy’s Test Pilot of the Year” and “Naval Officer of the Year.” Mr. Henry holds an M.A. equivalent in national security from the National Defense University, an M.S. in systems management from the University of Southern California, an M.S. equivalent in aero engineering from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, an M.S. in aero systems from the University of West Florida, and a B.S. in environmental science from the U.S. Naval Academy. He was a contributing author of the National Defense Strategy, 2008 (DOD, 2008), National Defense Strategy, 2005 (DOD, 2005), Quadrennial Defense Review, 2006 (DOD, 2006), and coeditor of The Information Revolution and International Security (CSIS, 1998).