Progress, Potential, and Possibilities Podcast / Show Morgan Plummer, Managing Director, National Security Innovation Network, U.S. Department of Defense
The National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) program office, under the Defense Innovation Unit, that seeks to create new communities of innovators to solve national security problems. NSIN partners with national research universities and the venture community to reinvigorate civil-military technology collaboration. As opposed to making investments in specific technologies, government R&D programs, or startups, NSIN focuses on human capital innovation, specifically developing and enabling innovators and human-centered networks. NSIN provides tools, training, and access to DoD assets that enable entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs to develop and commercialize high potential products in the national interest. Morgan Plummer is the Managing Director of the National Security Innovation Network at the U.S. Department of Defense. Prior to his appointment as Managing Director, Morgan served as the Senior Advisor to the Director of the NSIN and was a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at National Defense University in Washington, D.C. Prior to joining NSIN, Morgan served as a senior defense official in the Obama Administration, departing in April 2016 as the Senior Advisor to the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. As the senior public policy advisor and principal deputy to the Department’s chief human resources officer, Morgan helped oversee a bold set of sweeping and progressive reforms, including the full integration of women into ground combat units, the repeal of the ban against open transgender service and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter’s signature set of civilian, and military personnel policy reforms, collectively referred to as the “Force of the Future” initiative. Before his role at Personnel and Readiness, Morgan served as the Special Assistant and Deputy Chief of the Staff to the Under Secretary of the US Army. While there, he focused on strategic planning, improving the organizational design of the Army’s headquarters and refining its business processes. Morgan joined the Obama Administration after almost 12 years on active duty in the United States Army, where he served in a variety of command and staff assignments and completed multiple combat tours. Morgan has received numerous meritorious service and achievement medals, been decorated for valor and received the Office of the Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Public Service. In addition to his military and civilian awards, Morgan holds a BS degrees from Michigan State University (Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration) and a masters Georgetown University (Policy Management). He also serves as the Executive Director of the Defense Entrepreneurs Forum (DEF), a non-profit dedicated to enabling a culture of innovation in the US national security community.