Paul Garrett Kaminski (born September 16, 1942) is a technologist and former U.S. government official, best known for his leading role in the development of

stealth aircraft Stealth aircraft are designed to avoid detection using a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as stealth technology. The F-117 N ...

Early life

Kaminski was born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in 1942 and graduated from John Marshall High School in 1960. He received his B.S. degree in Engineering Science from the

Air Force Academy An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air forc ...

in 1964. Kaminski earned M.S. degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics and in Electrical Engineering from

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

in 1966 and a Ph.D. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

in 1971. His doctoral thesis was entitled ''Square Root Filtering and Smoothing for Discrete Processes''.

Military and government career

Kaminski served 20 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, mostly within Air Force Systems Command, rising to the rank of full colonel. Among other Air Force assignments, Kaminski was responsible for test and evaluation of

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors (accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity (dire ...

components for the

LGM-30 Minuteman The LGM-30 Minuteman is an American land-based intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in service with the Air Force Global Strike Command. , the LGM-30G Minuteman III version is the only land-based ICBM in service in the United States and r ...

missile and terminal guidance systems for the first U.S.

precision-guided munition A precision-guided munition (PGM, smart weapon, smart munition, smart bomb) is a guided munition intended to precisely hit a specific target, to minimize collateral damage and increase lethality against intended targets. During the First Gul ...

s.U.S. Missile Defense Agency
"Dr. Paul G. Kaminski Former Under Secretary of Defense 2011 Ronald Reagan Award Winner"
(2011) In 1971 Kaminski was assigned to the

National Reconnaissance Office The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is a member of the United States Intelligence Community and an agency of the United States Department of Defense which designs, builds, launches, and operates the reconnaissance satellites of the U.S. f ...

and based in Los Angeles. There he led work on a space system and related "unconventional imaging" technology, including the flying of prototypes on low and high altitude aircraft. This assignment, possibly related to the Lacrosse radar satellite, continued until 1976Stanford University School of Engineering
"Alumni Profile: Paul Kaminski (PhD 1971 AA)"
In 1976–77, Kaminski attended the

Industrial College of the Armed Forces The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (Eisenhower School), formerly known as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), is a part of the National Defense University. It was renamed on September 6, 20 ...

. During that time he met Under Secretary of Defense

William J. Perry William James Perry (born October 11, 1927) is an American mathematician, engineer, businessman, and civil servant who was the United States Secretary of Defense from February 3, 1994, to January 23, 1997, under President Bill Clinton. He also ...

, and became Perry's Special Assistant in 1977. One of his assignments was to assess early work on

stealth technology Stealth technology, also termed low observable technology (LO technology), is a sub-discipline of military tactics and passive and active electronic countermeasures, which covers a range of methods used to make personnel, aircraft, ships, subm ...

. Kaminski recommended going ahead with the creation of a large program that included, already by 1978, the experimental

Have Blue Lockheed ''Have Blue'' was the code name for Lockheed's proof of concept demonstrator for a stealth bomber. ''Have Blue'' was designed by Lockheed's Skunk Works division, and tested at Groom Lake, Nevada. The ''Have Blue'' was the first fixe ...

airplane.David C. Aronstein and Albert C. Piccirillo, ''Have Blue and the F-117A: evolution of the "Stealth Fighter"'' (American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, 1997). When Perry left government in 1981, Kaminski became Director for Low Observables Technology, with responsibility for overseeing the development, production and fielding of major

systems such as the

F-117 The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is a retired American single-seat, twin-engine stealth attack aircraft developed by Lockheed's secretive Skunk Works division and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF). It was the first operational air ...

(already well underway at the time) and

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit The Northrop (later Northrop Grumman) B-2 Spirit, also known as the Stealth Bomber, is an American heavy strategic bomber, featuring low-observable stealth technology designed to penetrate dense anti-aircraft defenses. A subsonic flying ...

(which was just being defined), along with an advanced, stealthy cruise missile and other programs. Kaminski held this position from 1981 to 1984. Kaminski left the Air Force after 20 years service in 1984. After a decade in the private sector, he returned to government in 1994 as Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition and Technology) from 1994 to 1997, under by-then Secretary of Defense

. In this role, he was responsible for activities with an aggregate annual budget exceeding $100 billion. He is credited with starting the "Revolution in Business Affairs", a Pentagon acquisition reform initiative that was continued by his successor

Jacques Gansler Jacques Singleton "Jack" Gansler (November 21, 1934 – December 4, 2018) was an aerospace electronics engineer, defense contracting executive and public policy expert. He served as Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logist ...

Later career

In his first period away from government work (1984–1994), Kaminski joined Perry in Technology Strategies and Alliances, an investment banking and technology strategy business, of which Kaminski eventually became Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. Then and subsequently, he has served as a consultant and advisor to a wide variety of government agencies and as chairman, director or trustee of several defense and technology oriented companies.NNDB
"Paul G. Kaminski"
/ref> In 1994, Kaminski was elected a member of the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

for leadership and technical contributions to stealth technology and military systems. He is also a Fellow of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and an Honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics. Kaminski has been a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, Chairman of the Defense Science Board, and has served as a member of the DNI's Senior Advisory Group, FBI Director's Advisory Board, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Technical Advisory Board, the National Academies Air Force Studies Board, and the

Atlantic Council The Atlantic Council is an American think tank in the field of international affairs, favoring Atlanticism, founded in 1961. It manages sixteen regional centers and functional programs related to international security and global economic prosp ...

. He has been the Chief Executive Officer and President of Technovation Inc. since 1997. Kaminski has authored publications dealing with inertial and terminal guidance system performance, simulation techniques, Kalman filtering and numerical techniques applied to estimation problems.

Service to Profession and Society

* Member of the

President's Intelligence Advisory Board The President's Intelligence Advisory Board (PIAB) is an advisory body to the Executive Office of the President of the United States. According to its self-description, it "provides advice to the President concerning the quality and adequacy of ...

(2009–2014) * Chairman of the

Defense Science Board The Defense Science Board (DSB) is a committee of civilian experts appointed to advise the U.S. Department of Defense on scientific and technical matters. It was established in 1956 on the recommendation of the second Hoover Commission. Charter ...

(1993–1994 and 2009–2015) and continuing member * Member of the

Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...

’s Senior Advisory Group (2011–2015) * Member of the

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

Director's Advisory Board (2003–2010) * Member of the Senate Select Comm. on Intelligence Technical Advisory Group (1997–2014) * Member of National Academies Air Force Studies Board (2011–2015) * Member of the

(1994) * Director of

RAND The RAND Corporation (from the phrase "research and development") is an American nonprofit global policy think tank created in 1948 by Douglas Aircraft Company to offer research and analysis to the United States Armed Forces. It is financed ...

Corporation Board (Chairman 2009–2013) * Director, Board of Managers of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab (2009-present) * Founding Director of

United States Air Force Academy The United States Air Force Academy (USAFA) is a United States service academy in El Paso County, Colorado, immediately north of Colorado Springs. It educates cadets for service in the officer corps of the United States Air Force and Uni ...

Foundation (2009-present) * Director of LGS Innovations (part of former Bell Labs) (2014–2019) * Advisory Board

MIT Lincoln Laboratory The MIT Lincoln Laboratory, located in Lexington, Massachusetts, is a United States Department of Defense federally funded research and development center chartered to apply advanced technology to problems of national security. Research and dev ...

(2009-present) * Chairman of the Exostar Board (2001–2020) * Chairman of HRL (former Hughes Research Labs) Board (2004-present) * Chairman of the Seagate Government Solutions Board (2015-present) * Chairman of the CyberPatriot Board of Advisers (Air Force Association) (2010-present) * Director of

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded, aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth-largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales, and 5th largest in the Uni ...

(1998–2014) * Director of Bay Microsystems (2004–2018) * Director of CoVant Technologies (2007-present) * Founding Director of

In-Q-Tel In-Q-Tel (IQT), formerly Peleus and In-Q-It, is an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in high-tech companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with ...

(2005–2012) * Director of

(2002–2006) * Director of Draper Labs (1997–1998) * Director of Anteon (1998–2006) * Director of Dyncorp (1988–1994) * Director of LMI (

Logistics Management Institute The Logistics Management Institute (more commonly referred to as LMI) is a consulting firm. Established as a private, not-for-profit organization in 1961, LMI is headquartered in Tysons, Virginia, near McLean, in the Greater Washington, D.C. area ...

) (1998–2005) * Director of Veridan (1998–2003) * Director of LinQuest (2018-present) * Director of Aevex Aerospace (2020-present) * Director of Axient (2020-present) * Advisor to Immersive Wisdom (2020-present)

Honors and awards

National Medal of Technology and Innovation The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

(2006) ("For his contributions to national security through the development of advanced, unconventional imaging from space, and for developing and fielding advanced systems with greatly enhanced survivability. He has made a profound difference in the national security posture and the global leadership of the United States") *

National Aviation Hall of Fame The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) is a museum, annual awards ceremony and learning and research center that was founded in 1962 as an Ohio non-profit corporation in Dayton, Ohio, United States, known as the "Birthplace of Aviation" with it ...

(class of 2020) ("Led many technical aerospace programs, including guided munitions; lead developer of Stealth Technology; and directed F-117 and B-2 Programs”) Paul G

* Honorary Fellow of

AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of ...

(2014) ("For leadership and vision in developing and applying advanced technology to enhance our National Security and National Intelligence capabilities”) * Honorary Fellow of Royal Aeronautical Society (RAeS) (2021) ("for leading the development of advanced low-observable systems and system-of-systems, including the F-117, the first operational stealth attack aircraft and the tools, training and weapons to effectively employ the systems") * Ronald Reagan Award, US Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency (2011) * William J Perry Award ("in recognition of superb contributions to precision strike systems") (2015) *

IEEE Simon Ramo Medal The IEEE Simon Ramo Medal is an award for exceptional achievement in systems engineering and systems science, and was established by the IEEE Board of Directors in 1982. The medal is named for Simon Ramo, one of the founders of the TRW corporati ...

, (2015) ("For leading the development of advanced low-observable systems and system-of-systems, including the F-117, the first operational stealth attack aircraft and the tools, training and weapons to effectively employ the systems") * Member of the

(1994) ("For leadership and technical contributions to stealth technology and military systems") *

Reed Aeronautics award (2013) ("For leadership and vision in developing and applying advanced technology to enhance our National Security and National Intelligence capabilities") * Fellow of

IEEE The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is a 501(c)(3) professional association for electronic engineering and electrical engineering (and associated disciplines) with its corporate office in New York City and its operation ...

(1998) (For pioneering contributions to Stealth/Counter-stealth technology and its application which fundamentally changed the nature of warfare and revolutionized design priorities of both offensive and defensive weapons systems and sensors.) *

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

, Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) *

, Pioneer of National Reconnaissance Award (2007) * Pioneers of Stealth Award (1996). *

Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service The Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service is the highest award that is presented by the Secretary of Defense, to a private citizen, politician, non-career federal employee, or foreign national. It is presented for exception ...

(5 Awards) (1995, 1996, 1997, 2014, 2015) * Department of Defense,

Defense Distinguished Service Medal The Defense Distinguished Service Medal is a military decoration of the United States Department of Defense, which is presented to United States Armed Forces service members for exceptionally distinguished performance of duty contributing to the ...

(1984) * Fellow of

(1999) * USAF Academy, Distinguished Graduate class of 1964; Distinguished Graduate Award in 2002, after completing his Air Force and DOD careers * Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Distinguished Graduate 1977, Eisenhower Award 2008 *

Director of Central Intelligence The director of central intelligence (DCI) was the head of the American Central Intelligence Agency from 1946 to 2005, acting as the principal intelligence advisor to the president of the United States and the United States National Security C ...

Director's Award (2007) * International Strategic Studies Association, Medal for Outstanding Contributions to Strategic Progress through Science and Technology (1998) *

Defense Intelligence Agency The Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is an intelligence agency and combat support agency of the United States Department of Defense, specializing in defense and military intelligence. A component of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the I ...

Director's Award (1997) *

, Distinguished Graduate PhD class of 1971 * USAF Systems Command, Scientific Achievement Award (1968) * Potomac Institute Navigator's Award, Leadership in Acquisition & Technology – Executive Branch (2000) *

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

with Oak Leaf Cluster * The Netherlands, Medal of Merit in Gold (1997) * France, French Republic

Legion d'Honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon B ...

(1999) * Association of Old Crows, AOC Gold Medal (1992)

References

External links

Profile
at

SourceWatch The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) is a progressive nonprofit watchdog and advocacy organization based in Madison, Wisconsin. CMD publishes ExposedbyCMD.org, SourceWatch.org, and ALECexposed.org. History CMD was founded in 1993 by progr ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaminski, Paul J. 1942 births Living people United States Air Force Academy alumni Military personnel from Cleveland United States Air Force officers MIT School of Engineering alumni Stanford University School of Engineering alumni Scientists from Ohio Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy alumni Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering United States Under Secretaries of Defense