Christine Michienzi Senior Associate (Non-resident), Defense-Industrial Initiatives Group CSIS

Dr. Christine (Chris) Michienzi is a former senior government executive with extensive national and international leadership experience. Her strategic advice and counsel are regularly sought on issues relating to global supply chains and defense industrial base resiliency and security.  She has prepared high-level briefings for the President, the National Security Advisor, the Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and she regularly briefed Members of Congress and their Staffs.

Today, Dr. Michienzi owns MMR Defense Solutions, LLC, a consulting firm that leverages her deep expertise and brings innovative solutions to help companies successfully address supply chain and technical issues using strategy, policy, and investment approaches.  She is a sought-after keynote speaker and panelist (moderator and participant) at national and international conferences and events, and a published author of articles, op-eds, and expert quotes in national news journals – Defense News, Wall Street Journal, etc., as well as a guest on multiple podcasts discussing defense and national security topics.

Dr. Michienzi served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), where she was the Senior Technology Advisor for the Undersecretary of Defense (USD) for Acquisition and Sustainment, advising the USD and other senior DoD leaders on innovative solutions for the design, development, and production of DoD systems, including facilitating technology transitions to provide cutting edge capability to the warfighter.  She has extensive technical, strategy, and policy expertise in missiles and munitions, including hypersonics, nuclear, and space systems; microelectronics; and critical chemicals, and the supply chains that manufacture them.

Dr. Michienzi provided technical expertise and strategic and policy guidance on the industrial base and supply chains to the USD and the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy (IBP), where she served as the Chief Technology Officer and Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense.  She bridged government (U.S. and international) and private sector endeavors as she led the Department’s efforts to rapidly increase industrial base capacity to accelerate the replenishment of weapons systems donated to Ukraine, enabling DoD to donate even more.  Dr. Michienzi also utilized her Defense Production Act (DPA) expertise to support Ukraine, Taiwan, COVID response, and other critical national security supply chain efforts.

Dr. Michienzi also served as the USD’s lead for microelectronics and was instrumental to ensuring inclusion of national security requirements and sustainability initiatives in the Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) Act authorization and appropriation by collaborating with Congressional members and staffers, as well as serving as the A&S liaison to the National Security Council and the Department of Commerce.

Previously she served in various roles in IBP – ensuring DoD assessed the capabilities, health, and resiliency of DoD supply chains, which the Department relies on for current and future warfighting capabilities, and developed mitigations to address identified risks and issues in all industrial sectors, enhancing Department readiness.

Dr. Michienzi began her DoD career with the Navy, where she served as the missiles and munitions technical expert at the Program Executive Office, Integrated Warfare Systems.  She spent nearly two decades at a Navy laboratory, developing new explosives and propellants for DoD weapons systems, for which she holds five patents, and eventually became the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Department Head, leading over 140 scientists and engineers performing research for Navy weapons systems.  She received both the Naval Sea Systems Command Scientist of the Year Award and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition Scientist of the Year Award for her research achievements.

Most recently, Dr. Michienzi received the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Civilian Career Service, and she previously received the Secretary of Defense’s Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service.

Dr. Michienzi received her Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP), and her Doctorate in Analytical Chemistry, also from UMCP.