Linton Wells II

Dr. Linton Wells II brings more than twenty years of civilian leadership experience in national security affairs. He is particularly familiar with cybersecurity issues, networked capabilities, and the uses of technology, media and data in defense environments, having served as acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration (ASD NII) and Department of Defense (DoD) Chief Information Officer (CIO). Other senor positions have been related to Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C31), and the interface between policy and technology. As Assistant Secretary (acting) and DoD CIO he oversaw the Defense Department’s $30 billion budget for information technology and related areas and was responsible for enhancing DoD’s networked capabilities and support structures.

His present work includes:

• Cross-domain synergy
• The convergence of cyber, electromagnetic warfare and space
• Building resilience to national and man-made disasters
• Critical infrastructure protection
• Smart cities
• Energy
• Big data analysis

From 2010 to 2014 he led the Center for Technology and National Security Policy (CTNSP), a research center at the National Defense University (NDU).

The center’s research emphasized:

1. Innovative learning - tapping into the explosion of innovation in private sector adult education.

    

2. Innovative learning of civilian and military activities, public-private cooperation, and building communities with diverse organizations in and out of government. This includes STAR-TIDES, a research project (www.star-tides.net) on building individual and community resilience.
3. Emerging challenges, such as cyber, space, energy and autonomous vehicles
4. Science and technology, emphasizing human hardiness and chemical/biological defense. 

In 2014 he completed 51 consecutive years with DoD. He is chairman of the Advisory Group to the C41 & Cyber Center at George Mason University, Managing Partner of Wells Analytics, LLC and a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

In twenty years of naval service, Dr. Wells served in a variety of surface ships, including command of a destroyer squadron and guided missile destroyer. He also acquired a wide range of experience in operations analysis: Pacific, Indian Ocean and Middle East Affairs, and C31.

Dr. Wells was born in Luanda, Angola, in 1946. He graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1967 and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and oceanography. He attended graduate school at the Johns Hopkins University, receiving a Master of Science in Engineering (M.S.E.) degree in mathematical sciences and a PhD in international relations. He is also a 1983 graduate of the Japanese National Institute for Defense Studies in Tokyo. He served on the National Advisory Council of the Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins. 

Dr. Wells has written widely on security studies in English and Japanese journals. He co-authored Japanese Cruisers of the Pacific War and Strategic Shift, an analysis of DoD strategic guidance. He also co-edited a series of books on leader development and international security transformation. His hobbies include history, the relationship between policy and technology, and scuba diving. He received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Distinguished Government Service from John Hopkins University and has thrice been awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service. See also: Linton Wells II.