Chris Shank, former senior adviser to the secretary of the U.S. Air Force, has joined the Defense Department’s Strategic Capabilities Office as its new director, Defense News reported Friday.
Shank will lead the SCO and its efforts to explore and develop strategies to counter emerging threats across various domains.
He succeeds Will Roper, who now serves as the assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, technology and logistics.
As senior adviser to the Air Force secretary in 2017, Shank helped re-establish the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering and the White House National Space Council.
The Air Force vet also held several leadership and adviser roles in other companies and agencies such as Van Scoyoc Associates, Honeywell, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, the Department of Defense and NASA.