Brett Lambert
Brett Lambert is the managing director of the Densmore Group, a national security and intelligence consultancy focused on strategy, transactions, and government compliance. From 2015 to 2019, he served as vice president of corporate strategy at Northrop Grumman, where his duties for the CEO included the development and execution of issues relating to overall corporate strategy, organization, M&A, strategic partnerships, and new market expansion.
In 2009, Lambert was appointed by President Obama as the deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Manufacturing and Industrial Base Policy, a position he held through 2013. At the DASD, Lambert served as the principal advisor to the USD (AT&L) on all matters relating to the defense industrial base, including industrial capabilities and assessments; defense industry mergers, acquisitions, and consolidation; preservation of essential industries and technologies; and other industrial-related matters.
Lambert was responsible for overseeing transactions referred to the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) as well as domestic transactions that fell under Hart Scott Rodino (HSR) and required review. In this post, Lambert led President Obama’s effort at the Department of Defense to establish the first Manufacturing USA site, which culminated in the selection of additive manufacturing (3D printing) as the focal point for the administration’s pursuit of a manufacturing renaissance. There are now 18 Manufacturing USA activities in 13 states. In 2011, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, and in 2013, he was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service, the highest award from the Secretary available to a non-career civilian.
Lambert is currently a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a senior associate (non-resident) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, chairman of the Board of the Advanced Robotics Manufacturing Institute led by Carnegie Mellon University, a board member of ASTRO America, and is a co-chairman of the Japan / US Technology Forum of the Henry L. Stimson Center. In 2023, he was appointed by the DoD as the co-chairman of the Defense Science Board Task Force on the 21st Century Industrial Base for National Security, which will be delivered to the secretary in 2025.
Lambert is an advisory board member of Enlightenment Capital and managing partner of Sapient Machines. Lambert serves on the board of the National Defense Industrial Association, as well as the Dean’s Advisory Council for Kansas State University Polytechnic, a university focused on the development of UAS human capital talent. His current board memberships include Infineon/Memory Solutions (Proxy with NSA), MBDA USA (SSA), Elbit US/Sparton (Proxy), American Rheinmetall Systems (SSA), NTT Data Federal (Proxy with NSA) and Aptive WindRiver/Star Lab (SSA with NSA).
Prior to joining the DoD, Lambert spent 30 years working with defense and intelligence firms. From 1989 until 2007, Lambert helped lead DFI International, a national security consultancy he built with the founder and assisted in selling in 2007.