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Robert E. Irie

Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology Program Protection

 

Dr. Robert E. Irie is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Science and Technology (S&T) Program Protection in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering (OUSD(R&E)). He serves as the DoD lead for maintaining technology advantage by synchronizing S&T and program protection initiatives across DoD and by mitigating vulnerabilities and exploitation of critical missions, programs, and technologies. He also oversees program protection policy and related software assurance, anti-tamper, and critical technical information protection practices.

Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Irie served as the Director, Maintaining Technology Advantage within OUSD(R&E), leading the establishment and implementation of proactive promotion and protection policies, tools, education, and practices. He oversaw the Joint Acquisition Protection and Exploitation Cell and the Damage Assessment Management Office.  

Dr. Irie also served as Senior Industrial Analyst in the Industrial Policy Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. There, he specialized in microelectronics, electronic warfare, command, control, and communications. He also led the interagency assessment of the defense electronics industrial base in response to Presidential Executive Order 13806.

Dr. Irie served as Lead Systems Engineer and Assistant Program Manager at Special Operations Command; Chief Engineer for Command and Control Constellation at Air Force Materiel Command; and Program Officer at the Office of Naval Research. Under his leadership, multiple advanced technology demonstrations resulted in rapid fielding of emerging capabilities to operational units. Dr. Irie has also conducted research in artificial intelligence, robotics, and natural language processing at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center.

Dr. Irie became a member of the Senior Executive Service in January 2020. He received an S.B. in Engineering Science from Harvard College, and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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