Joseph S. Mahaley

Joe Mahaley is a Senior Advisor within the Mission Support Directorate (MSD) at NASA. In this executive leadership role, he provides expert advice, analysis, and guidance to MSD on key mission-critical issues, initiatives, and agency functions.

Joe previously served as Assistant Administrator (AA) for Protective Services at NASA where he led the Office of Protective Services (OPS) for twelve years. As the AA for OPS, he oversaw NASA’s security management including agency-wide personnel, physical, and information security policy and operations; intelligence analysis; counterintelligence and counterterrorism services; national security systems; handling of sensitive and classified information; identity, credential, and access management; emergency management; and continuity of operations functions. He was also NASA’s Insider Threat Senior Official and the Agency Senior Official for Operations Security.

Prior to NASA, Joe worked at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as Director of Security Affairs, and then as Director of Security and Emergency Operations.  Before his security assignments, he served as the Assistant General Counsel for Defense Programs and National Security, which is the senior legal advisor to DOE’s nuclear weapons, nonproliferation, and security programs.

Following his service at DOE, Joe was a security advisor to the Sandia Corporation Board of Directors, overseeing Sandia National Laboratories for nine years. He was also Vice President, Government Strategies and Chief Security Officer at Day and Zimmerman, then Vice President and General Manager, Integrated Security Solutions, at DRS Technologies. He next served as a Senior Vice President at Parsons Corporation, establishing and leading their Applied Systems Division.

Joe also founded Security Strategies LLC, a consulting company.  After leaving Parsons, he worked as an independent consultant and advisor to numerous companies, including the Abraham Group, Watermark Risk Management International, ManTech International Corporation, InfoZen, Logan Research, and SRC Incorporated.

Joe is a recipient of the DOE’s highest honorary award, the Secretary of Energy’s Gold Award; the DOE Distinguished Career Service Award; the National Nuclear Security Administration Award for Exceptional Contributions to National Security Programs; the 2003 Nuclear Security Information Exchange Certificate of Excellence; and the 2001 Presidential Rank Award, Meritorious Senior Executive. He also served as a Charter Member of the U.S. Federal Law Enforcement Training Accreditation Board.

In 2018, he received his second Presidential Rank Award, Distinguished Senior Executive, recognizing his long record of outstanding service at both DOE and NASA.

Joe graduated with merit from the U.S. Naval Academy and received his Juris Doctor degree with honors from George Washington University. In 2010, he was named a Distinguished Fellow and Affiliate Faculty Member of the Center for Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security at George Mason University Business School. He is also a retired U.S. Navy Captain.