Michael D. Griffin

Michael Douglas Griffin (born November 1, 1949) is an American physicist and aerospace engineer who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering from 2018 to 2020.

He earned a BA degree in physics from Johns Hopkins University in 1971; a MSE degree in aerospace science from the Catholic University of America in 1974; a PhD degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Maryland in 1977; a MS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California in 1979; an MS degree in applied physics from Johns Hopkins University in 1983; an MBA degree from Loyola University Maryland in 1990; and an MS degree in civil engineering from George Washington University in 1998.

Griffin was also working toward an MS degree in computer science at Johns Hopkins University before being appointed as NASA chief.

Griffin's early career began at APL in the 1980s, where he helped design the successful Delta 180 series of missile defense technology satellites for the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO).

Griffin soon rose to Deputy for Technology where he conceived and directed the first space-to-space interception of a ballistic missile in powered flight, and the first space-borne reconnaissance of ballistic missile targets in boost phase and mid-course flight.

In 1991, Griffin was the President and CTO of Orbital Sciences, then a small entrepreneurial space launch company

In 1995, Griffin authored a report published by The Heritage Foundation, "Ending America's Vulnerability to Ballistic Missiles", offering recommendations for advancing the recently cancelled Brilliant Pebbles program.

There he advocated for a new proliferated low Earth orbit constellation of sensors and space-based interceptor weapons to defend against ballistic missiles.

In early 2002 he met entrepreneur Elon Musk and accompanied him on a trip to Russia where they attempted to purchase ICBMs.

The unsuccessful trip is credited as directly leading to the formation of SpaceX.

Musk offered Griffin the title of Chief Engineer at the company, but Griffin instead became president and COO of In-Q-Tel, a private enterprise funded by the CIA to identify and invest in companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve national security interests.

In 2004 Griffin was named head of the Space Department at Johns Hopkins University APL.

Griffin holds seven academic degrees that he earned throughout his career.

In 2004 testimony to Congress on the future of human spaceflight, he stated, "For me, the single overarching goal of human space flight is the human settlement of the Solar System, and eventually beyond. I can think of no lesser purpose sufficient to justify the difficulty of the enterprise, and no greater purpose is possible."

In his testimony he also advocated heavy-lift launch capabilities, development of space qualified nuclear power systems, in situ resource utilization, and cost-effective medium-size transport to low Earth orbit.

He previously served as Deputy of Technology for the Strategic Defense Initiative, and as Administrator of NASA from April 13, 2005, to January 20, 2009.

As NASA Administrator Griffin oversaw such areas as private spaceflight, future human spaceflight to Mars, and the fate of the Hubble telescope.

While he describes himself as a "simple aerospace engineer from a small town", Griffin has held several high-profile political appointments.

In 2005, he was appointed NASA Administrator where he pushed for commercial cargo and crew transportation services.

After NASA lost a GAO protest from SpaceX on a sole-source contract to RocketPlane Kistler, Griffin led a reorganization of the contract into a competition called the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program.

Twenty aerospace companies applied to the COTS program, of which two companies, RocketPlane Kistler and SpaceX were selected by NASA.

In 2007 he was included in the TIME 100, the magazine's list of the 100 most influential people.

Griffin's appointment as Administrator was associated with a significant shift in the direction of the agency.

He began signaling intended changes at his Senate confirmation hearing.

In December 2008, NASA awarded SpaceX and Orbital Sciences contracts with a combined value of $3.5 billion as part of the Commercial Resupply Services program.

In April 2009, Griffin was named eminent scholar and a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.

In February 2018, Griffin was appointed as Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering by Donald Trump.

One of his first actions was to create the Space Development Agency.

The organization was tasked with procuring a proliferated constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to detect Chinese and Russian hypersonic weapons.

Commercial contracts for the constellation were given to L3Harris and SpaceX to build Starlink military satellites.

CIA Director Mike Pompeo called the project a “Strategic Defense Initiative for our time, the SDI II".

Griffin has encouraged the development of boost-glide hypersonic weapons such as the AGM-183 ARRW.

In 2020, he signaled that the United States would be making a major investment in production of hypersonic weaponry at scale.

Before his appointment as NASA Administrator, Griffin was President-Elect of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

He is a member of American Astronautical Society and International Academy of Astronautics.

Griffin had worked at NASA prior to serving as NASA Administrator, including as Associate Administrator for Exploration.

When he was nominated as NASA chief, he was head of the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland.

Griffin has been a professor at various universities, teaching courses in spacecraft design, Applied Math, guidance and navigation, compressible flow, computational fluid dynamics, spacecraft attitude control, aerodynamics, and introductory aerospace engineering.

He is lead author of more than two dozen technical papers, and is co-author with James R. French of the astronautical engineering textbook, Space Vehicle Design.

ISBN 1-56347-539-1 Griffin is also a general aviation flight Instructor and Pilot, and owner of a small airplane, a Beech Bonanza.