Overview

Paul N. Stockton is the Managing Director of Sonecon. In this position, Dr. Stockton advises industry and government clients on critical infrastructure resilience, cyber incident response, mission assurance, and other national and international security issues.

Biography

Before joining Sonecon, Dr. Stockton served as the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs from May 2009 to January 2013. As ASD, he was responsible for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection and led the development of the Department’s first Mission Assurance Strategy. Dr. Stockton also served as DOD’s Domestic Crisis Manager and was responsible for defense continuity of operations. He was the principal civilian advisor to the Secretary of Defense for providing defense support to FEMA and DHS in Superstorm Sandy, Hurricane Irene, and other disasters. Dr. Stockton also served as the Executive Director of the Council of Governors and was responsible for developing and overseeing DOD security policy in the Western Hemisphere.

Dr. Stockton was twice awarded the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, DOD’s highest civilian award. The Department of Homeland Security also awarded Dr. Stockton its Distinguished Public Service Medal.

Dr. Stockton continues to support DOD on infrastructure resilience, mission assurance, and cyber challenges to national security. He was member of the Defense Science Board Task Force on Cyber Deterrence and a contributing author of its February 2017 Final Report. In September 2013, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel appointed Dr. Stockton as Co-Chair of the Independent Review of the Washington Navy Yard Shootings. The resulting report, Security from Within, proposed far-reaching changes to DOD security clearance programs and policies that the Department is now implementing.

Prior to his service as Assistant Secretary, Dr. Stockton was a Senior Research Scholar at Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation. He previously served Associate Provost of the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS), where he founded and led the NPS School of International Graduate Studies, the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, and the Center for Civil-Military Relations.

Dr. Stockton earned his Ph.D. from Harvard University and a B.A. summa cum laude from Dartmouth College. Dr. Stockton is widely published in professional journals, most recently on cybersecurity and infrastructure resilience issues. A list of Dr. Stockton’s latest work for Sonecon can be found here.