The Honorable David J. Trachtenberg is Vice President of the National Institute for Public
Policy. He was nominated by the president and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in October
2017 as the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and served in this capacity until
his retirement from government service in July 2019. From October 2017 until January
2018, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the principal
civilian advisor to the Secretary of Defense on policy matters. He was also the senior
Department of Defense civilian official responsible for developing, coordinating, and
overseeing compliance with DoD policy regarding civilian casualties resulting from
military operations. He has over 40 years of public policy experience in the private sector
and in government and served under five confirmed or acting Secretaries of Defense.

As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Policy in
the George W. Bush Administration, he worked on issues involving NATO, proliferation,
Russia, and arms control. Concurrently, he was Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Forces Policy, overseeing the office responsible for U.S. nuclear and missile
defense posture.

As a Professional Staff Member on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), he
provided policy oversight of export control and technology transfer issues, peacekeeping,
terrorism, nuclear weapons and arms control, missile defense, nonproliferation, and
cooperative threat reduction with the former Soviet Union.

He was also Vice President of CACI International’s Strategic Analysis Division, a member
of the technical staff of The Analytical Sciences Corporation, consultant to the President's
General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament, Senior Defense
Analyst for the Committee on the Present Danger, and research associate with the
Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis, Inc.

Mr. Trachtenberg was twice awarded the Department of Defense Medal for
Distinguished Public Service, the highest honorary award presented by DOD to private
citizens.

Mr. Trachtenberg received an A.B. degree in International Relations from the University
of Southern California and a Master of Science degree in Foreign Service from
Georgetown University. He is widely published and is an adjunct professor at the Fairfax,
Virginia campus of Missouri State University’s Defense and Strategic Studies Graduate
School, where he teaches courses on national security.