White House names deputy undersecretary for DOD R&E. By Lauren C. Williams; Jul 23, 2020 .

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Prior to this position, she was the Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research at NASA and a senior scientist in the Advanced Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

His deputy Lisa Porter is a longtime colleague who worked with Griffin at NASA and the CIA’s technology incubator In-Q-Tel. Sign up and get Breaking Defense news in your inbox.Want the latest defense industry news?

Now we will see the same process unfold again at R&E.”Greenwalt added that with only six months left in this administration, it “is doubtful” DoD would even be able to nominate a replacement to Congress “unless they have been working on it for the last six months.” And even if there was someone in the wings, he asked, “would any one really expect the Senate to act this late in the game?”That said, given that Griffin holds acquisition sign-off authority for MDA and SDA — along with projects directly under his shop — someone will have to step in on an acting basis. A layered approach comprised of NGI, Aegis BMD and THAAD could be available in the mid to late-2020s, which strengthens our defense against a rogue state missile attack. We wish you all the best,” the duo wrote in a letter to DOD's research and development staff.Griffin is responsible for leading the development of new military technologies, such as hypersonic weapons, directed energy and various space-based programs.His portfolio includes the Missile Defense Agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which allowed him to leverage his experience as a former NASA leader under George W. Bush's administration.Porter has served as Griffin's deputy from 2018 but avoided media engagements during her tenure, according to Defense News.She previously served as the executive vice president and director of In-Q-Tel Labs, a technology-focused venture capital and private equity firm.Griffin's and Porter's move follows the recent resignation announcements of Elaine McCusker, DOD's acting comptroller, and Kathryn Wheelbarger, the acting assistant defense secretary for international security affairsIn a speech in May, Griffin reportedly hinted at his resignation, saying that the administration can end his tenure at any time.“But, that’s okay. By Derek B. Johnson ; Mar 05, 2018 Lisa Porter, shown here during her time as a NASA official. There have been consistent reports over the past 18 months that a number of R&E staff have complained of toxic leadership during the Griffin-Porter tenure. Lisa J. Porter is an American scientist and founding Director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity. This is my third time in that arena,” he said.Copyright © 2020 by Executive Mosaic. Sign up for the Breaking Defense newsletter.WASHINGTON: DoD Undersecretary for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin, and his deputy Lisa Porter, have jointly tendered their resignations affective July 10 — after two tumultuous years and increasing congressional push back on R&E management.A DoD official confirmed the resignation today, noting only that Griffin and Porter went to the White House this morning and informed the staff later. DOD's cyber chief to exit this month. For example, both sides of Capitol Hill were stunned when Griffin suddenly killed Congress also in the 2020 NDAA brushed aside a strong push by Mike Griffin to demote the Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO) and place it under DARPA. Now it’s time to take stock of the many moving parts and reassess how to best match institutional identities and competencies with the missions and tasks at hand,” Tom Karako, missile defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Congressional aides have complained loudly that Griffin’s shop, including SDA, have been less than transparent and have taken major actions without properly vetting them with the Hill. Michael Griffin, Lisa Porter Resign From DOD’s R&D Staff. There is a process of recusal from issues when appointees or senior DoD officials begin to start looking for opportunities and I assume they complied with all of those wickets,” Bill Greenwalt, former Senate Armed Services Committee official and DoD acquisition guru, told According to insiders, there is a whiff of the proverbial ‘leaving to spend time with my family’ about the joint resignation email — in that the duo was under pressure from Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist to step aside. Department of Defense officials announced that Michael Griffin, defense undersecretary of research and engineering and a two-time Wash100 winner; and his deputy, Lisa Porter, have submitted their resignations. And, more than one source in the loop said, both Griffin and Porter had recently told staff that they intended to stay in place until after Trump’s renomination as the Republican candidate for president.Further, the resignations follows on the heels of House Armed Service Committee criticism in the draft “The Missile Defense enterprise is at the heart of this turmoil. You don’t you don’t take these jobs unless you understand that. Copyright © 2020 Breaking Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Want the latest defense industry news?

We greatly appreciate your hard work, diligence, integrity and devotion to technical excellence and technical truth in furtherance of the R&E mission. That move by Griffin prompted the resignation of the Both House and Senate Armed Services committees also have been highly skeptical of the SDA, and concerned about how it’s program to develop multiple constellations of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites is being integrated with the ongoing programs of the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC).Finally, the effort by Griffin, Porter and SDA Director Derek Tournear toThe resignations follow hard on the heels of another pair of high-level leave-takings just last week.