Dr. Paul N. Stockton is the President of Paul N Stockton LLC, a strategic advisory firm in

Santa Fe, NM Santa Fe ( ; , literal translation, lit. "Holy Faith") is the capital city, capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Santa Fe County. With over 89,000 residents, Santa Fe is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, fourt ...

. From 2009 to 2013, Dr. Stockton served as

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and Americas' Security Affairs The assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and hemispheric affairs, or ASD (HD&HA), is responsible for defense continuity and mission assurance; homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities; Arctic and global resilienc ...

, where he helped lead the department's response to

Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as Superstorm Sandy) was an extremely large and devastating tropical cyclone which ravaged the Caribbean and the coastal Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States in late ...

and other disasters. He was responsible for Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection, Western Hemisphere security policy, domestic crisis management, continuity of operations planning, and a range of other responsibilities. While Assistant Secretary, Dr. Stockton also served as executive director of the

Council of Governors The Council of Governors is a United States council of State governments of the United States, state and Federal government of the United States, federal officials that was established to "advise the United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of ...

. After serving as Assistant Secretary, Dr. Stockton was the managing director of Sonecon LLC, an advisory firm in Washington, DC, from 2013 to 2020. In September 2013, Secretary of Defense

Chuck Hagel Charles Timothy Hagel ( ; born October 4, 1946)Independent Review of the Washington Navy Yard Shootings
which recommended major changes to the department's security clearance system that the Department has implemented. Dr. Stockton is Chair of the Grid Resilience for National Security subcommittee of the Department of Energy's Electricity Advisory Committee. He chairs the Board of Directors for Analytic Services, Inc., and is a Senior Fellow at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He also serves on advisory boards for the Idaho National Laboratory and other organizations. From January 2022 to March 2025, Dr. Stockton chaired the Homeland Defense Subcommittee of DOD's Reserve Forces Policy Board.

Education and early career

Education

Dr. Stockton earned a BA ''Summa Cum Laude'' in government from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College ( ) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, Dartmouth is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the America ...

in June 1976 and a Ph.D. in government from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

in November 1986. He was born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and attended River Falls Senior High in

River Falls, Wisconsin River Falls is a city in Pierce and St. Croix counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is located mostly within the town of River Falls, and adjacent to the town of Kinnickinnic in St. Croix County. River Falls is the most populous city ...

before graduating from Highland Park Senior High in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

in 1972.

Early career

Dr. Stockton served as a

Research Associate Research associates are researchers (scholars and professionals) that usually have an advanced degree beyond a Bachelor's degree such as a master's degree or a PhD. In some universities/research institutes, such as Harvard/Harvard Medical Scho ...

for the

International Institute for Strategic Studies The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is an international research institute or think tank focusing on defence and security issues. Since 1997, its headquarters have been at Arundel House in London. It has offices on four co ...

from 1982 to 1983, and was a Legislative Assistant to Senator

Daniel Patrick Moynihan Daniel Patrick Moynihan (; March 16, 1927 – March 26, 2003) was an American politician, diplomat and social scientist. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he represented New York (state), New York in the ...

from 1986 to 1989, where he was responsible for foreign relations, defense, and intelligence issues. Dr. Stockton then joined the faculty of the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

(NPS) in Monterey, California in 1990. Dr. Stockton held a number of positions at NPS before becoming Associate Provost in 2000. During his NPS tenure, Dr. Stockton founded and led its School of International Graduate Studies, the Center for Homeland Defense and Security, and the Center for Civil-Military Relations. Dr. Stockton was appointed Senior Research Scholar at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

’s

Center for International Security and Cooperation Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

in 2006 and held the position until 2009.

Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense and America’s Security Affairs

Nomination

President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

nominated Dr. Stockton to be Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Homeland Defense and America's Security Affairs (HD&ASA) on April 28, 2009, and was confirmed by the Senate on May 18, 2009.

Tenure

As ASD HD&ASA, Dr. Stockton was responsible for DoD initiatives to strengthen security in the Western Hemisphere and help partner nations build their capacities to meet emerging security challenges. He also guided the Defense Critical Infrastructure Protection program, served as DoD's Domestic Crisis Manager, and helped lead the Department's response to Hurricane Sandy,

Deepwater Horizon ''Deepwater Horizon'' was an ultra-deepwater, Dynamic positioning, dynamically positioned, Semi-submersible platform, semi-submersible offshore drilling Oil platform, rig owned by Transocean and operated by the BP company. On 20 April 2010, ...

and other disasters. Dr. Stockton was responsible for DoD policy on domestic counter-terrorism, continuity of operations planning, maritime domain awareness,

air sovereignty An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

, and preparedness for chemical, biological radiological and nuclear events. From 2010 until January 2013, Dr. Stockton also served as executive director of the

, where he helped Governors, the

National Guard National guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. ...

, DoD, the

Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the U.S. federal executive department responsible for public security, roughly comparable to the interior, home, or public security ministries in other countries. Its missions invol ...

and the

Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), initially created under President Jimmy Carter by Presidential Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1978 and implemented by two Exec ...

adopt initiatives to strengthen Federal-State collaboration and

unity of effort Unity of effort is the state of harmonizing efforts among multiple organizations working towards a similar objective. This prevents organizations from working at cross purposes and it reduces duplication of effort. Multiple organizations can achiev ...

. These initiatives were codified into law in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, Section 515. From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Stockton served as the Acting U.S. Co-chair of the Canada-U.S. Permanent Joint Board of Defense, the premier organization for defense policy coordination between the two Nations.

Accomplishments and awards

Dr. Stockton was awarded the

Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service The Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service is the highest award that is presented by the United States Secretary of Defense to a private citizen, politician, non-career federal employee, or foreign national. It is presented f ...

, DoD's highest civilian award, in 2011 and again in 2013. The Department of Homeland Security also awarded Dr. Stockton its Distinguished Public Service Medal. While ASD, Stockton led the teams that created the Department's first-ever

Mission Assurance Mission Assurance is a full life-cycle engineering process to identify and mitigate design, production, test, and field support deficiencies threatening mission success. Aspects of Mission Assurance Mission Assurance includes the disciplined ap ...

Strategy, the Complex Catastrophe Initiative for defense support to civil authorities in extreme events, and the implementation of installation and personnel security measures following the shootings at Fort Hood in 2009.

Private sector consulting

Dr. Stockton is President of Paul N Stockton LLC, a strategic advisory firm in Santa Fe, NM. In this role, Dr. Stockton provides strategic advice to industry and government clients on

critical infrastructure Critical infrastructure, or critical national infrastructure (CNI) in the UK, describes infrastructure considered essential by governments for the functioning of a society and economy and deserving of special protection for national security. ...

and

international security ''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publis ...

issues. He also performs studies, prepares expert testimony and regulatory filings, and contributes to the design and execution of infrastructure resilience and cybersecurity exercises. From 2013 to 2020, he served as the managing director of Sonecon, LLC, a security and economic advisory firm in Washington, DC. I

Activities and organizations

Dr. Stockton helped the

and

develop th
Emergency Support Function #14 – Cross-Sector Business and Infrastructure Annex
and served as contributing editor to the 4th Edition of the

National Response Framework The United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washi ...

. Dr. Stockton was a member of the

Defense Science Board The Defense Science Board (DSB) is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters. It was established in 1956 on the second Hoover Commission's recommendation. Charter The B ...

’s Task Force on Cyber Deterrence and contributed to it
2017 Final Report
. Dr. Stockton has served on the

Homeland Security Advisory Council The Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) is part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. It was created by an Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United ...

and co-authored it
2016 report on cyber incident response
Dr. Stockton is also a Senior Fellow at the

Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (or simply Applied Physics Laboratory, or APL) is a not-for-profit university-affiliated research center (UARC) in Howard County, Maryland. It is affiliated with Johns Hopkins University ...

and chairs the Board of Directors for Analytic Services, Inc. He also serves on advisory boards for the

Idaho National Laboratory Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. Historically, the lab has been involved with nuclear research, although the labora ...

and other organizations. Dr. Stockton also co-chaired the DoD's Independent Review of the Washington Navy Yard Shooting, released March 2014.

Publications

Surfing the Wave: Resilience Strategies for the Decentralizing Grid (Laurel, MD: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, 2025), https://www.jhuapl.edu/sites/default/files/2025-03/SurfingTheWave-WEB.pdf Reserve Component Support for Homeland Defense (Washington, DC: DOD Reserve Forces Policy Board, August 2024), https://www.jhuapl.edu/sites/default/files/2025-03/SurfingTheWave-WEB.pdf Blackstart for Greener Grid (Washington, DC: Electric Infrastructure Security Council, 2024), https://eiscouncil.org/e-pro-blackstart/ Defeating Coercive Information Operations in Future Crises (Laurel, MD: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, August 2021), https://www.jhuapl.edu/Content/documents/DefeatingCoerciveIOs.pdf Securing the Grid from Supply-Chain Based Attacks (Idaho Falls: Idaho National Laboratory, September 2020), https://inl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/StocktonEOReport.pdf Strengthening the Cyber Resilience of North American Energy Systems (Washington, DC: The Wilson Center, September 2020), https://www.wilsoncenter.org/publication/strengthening-cyber-resilience-north-american-energy-systems “Strengthening Mission Assurance Against Emerging Threats: Critical Gaps and Opportunities for Progress” Joint Forces Quarterly (Issue 95, 4th Quarter 2019), pp. 22–31, with John Paczkoski, https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Media/News/News-Article-View/Article/2018819/strengthening-mission-assurance-against-emerging-threats-critical-gaps-and-oppo/
"Resilience for Grid Security Emergencies: Opportunities for Industry-Government Collaboration,"
published by the

(APL). This follows Dr. Stockton's 201
"Super Storm Sandy: Implications for Designing a Post Cyber Attack Power Restoration System"
report for APL. Dr. Stockton is also the Principal Author and Editor in Chief of the Electric Infrastructure Security Council's Electric Grid Protection Handbook series. The most recent Handbook (III)
“Cross-Sector Coordination and Communications in Black Sky Events,”
was published in June 2018. In 2014, Dr. Stockton authore
"Responding to a Cyber Attack on the North American Electric Grid,"
Chapter 5 of the Bipartisan Policy Center's Electric Grid Cybersecurity Initiative. Dr. Stockton also authore
"Resilience for Black Sky Days: Supplementing Reliability Metrics for Extraordinary and Hazardous Events,"
a study published by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners. The report proposes criteria for strengthening resilience against "black sky days": i.e., extraordinary and hazardous catastrophes utterly unlike the blue sky days during which utilities typically operate. Dr. Stockton co-authored DoD's �
Independent Review of the Washington Navy Yard Shooting” published in November 2013
Dr. Stockton was also the lead co-author of �
Prosecuting Cyberterrorists: Applying Traditional Jurisdictional Frameworks to a Modern Threat
” ''Stanford Law & Policy Review'', and �
Curbing the Market for Cyber Weapons
” published by ''Yale Law and Policy Review'', and has published in ''

International Security ''International Security'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal in the field of international and national security. It was founded in 1976 and is edited by the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University and publis ...

Political Science Quarterly ''Political Science Quarterly'' is an American double blind peer-reviewed academic journal covering government, politics, and policy, published since 1886 by the Academy of Political Science. Its editor-in-chief is Robert Y. Shapiro (Columbia ...

, Homeland Security Affairs'' (which he helped found in 2005), and other

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

journals and edited volumes.

References

External links

*
Resilience for Grid Security Emergencies: Opportunities for Industry-Government Collaboration

Electric Grid Protection Handbook III: Cross-Sector Coordination and Communications in Black Sky Events

Defense Science Board Task Force on Cyber Deterrence: 2017 Final Report

Final Report of the Cybersecurity Subcommittee: Incident Response

Super Storm Sandy: Implications for Designing a Post Cyber Attack Power Restoration System

Department of Defense Independent Review of the Washington Navy Yard Shooting

Resilience For Black Sky Days

"Ten Years After 9/11: Challenges for the Decade to Come:"

Sonecon LLC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stockton, Paul N. 1954 births Living people People from Los Angeles People from Saint Paul, Minnesota Dartmouth College alumni Harvard University alumni Naval Postgraduate School faculty Stanford University people United States assistant secretaries of defense People from Santa Fe, New Mexico