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Daniel Gerstein  

Futurist and security and defense professional specializing in strategic planning, change management, leadership development and technology.

Dr. Daniel M. Gerstein has served in the Department of Homeland Security since August 2011. He currently serves as Senior Advisor for Acquisition Policy to the Deputy Secretary, a role he assumed in May 2014. Prior to assuming this position, he served in the Science & Technology Directorate as the Under Secretary (Acting) and Deputy Under Secretary for three years. He is also an Adjunct Professor at American University in Washington, D.C. where he teaches courses on bioterrorism and the evolution of military thought.

Dr. Gerstein has extensive experience in the security and defense sectors in a variety of positions while serving as a Senior Executive Service (SES) government civilian, in uniform, and in industry. As Senior Advisor to the Deputy Secretary, Dr. Gerstein provides strategic insights and analysis concerning development of the Department’s “strategy to resources” reform process. In S&T, he was responsible for the development and execution of the directorate’s over $1 billion annual budget and championed the incorporation of operational analysis and the use of technology roadmaps in the S&T Directorate to ensure a corporate portfolio which responded to the needs of the Department. Dr. Gerstein has also spearheaded several important cross-departmental integration efforts in key areas such as big data, cyber security, biodefense, and R&D portfolio management.

He began his professional career in the U.S. Army, serving on four continents while participating in combat, peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance, counterterrorism and homeland security. Dr. Gerstein also served as a Chief Information Officer (CIO) for several Joint and Army commands including the establishment of a major cyber security center post-9/11. He also served for more than a decade in the Pentagon in various high-level staff assignments. Following retirement from active duty, Dr. Gerstein joined L-3 Communications as Vice President for Homeland Security Services, where he led an organization providing WMD preparedness and response, critical infrastructure security, emergency response capability and exercise support to U.S. and international customers. Before joining DHS, Dr. Gerstein was a political appointee in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy) serving as the Principal Director for Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD).

Dr. Gerstein also has extensive experience in international negotiations having served on the Holbrooke Delegation that negotiated the peace settlement in Bosnia; developed and analyzed negotiating positions for the Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) talks; and developed an initiative to improve cross border communications between Colombia and neighboring Andean Ridge nations. Additionally, Dr. Gerstein led an initiative to develop a comprehensive biosurveillance system for the Department of Defense and led the Army’s most comprehensive restructuring since World War II.
He has been awarded numerous foreign, military and civilian awards, including the Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award and the U.S. Army Soldiers Medal for heroism. He is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Dr. Gerstein has published numerous books and articles on national security, information technology and cyber security, and biological warfare and including Securing America’s Future: National Strategy in the Information Age (Praeger Security International, September 2005); Leading at the Speed of Light (Potomac Books, November 2006); and Assignment Pentagon (Potomac Books, May 2007), Bioterror in the 21st Century (Naval Institute Press, October 2009) and National Security and Arms Control in the Age of Biotechnology (Rowman & Littlefield, May 2013).

He graduated from the United States Military Academy and has masters degrees from Georgia Tech, the National Defense University and the U.S. Army Command & General Staff College, and a Ph.D. in Biodefense from George Mason University.  

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