Alumni Profiles
School of Engineering Alumnus Named Deputy Director
Dr. L. Wayne Brasure, a member of the Senior Executive Service, became the Deputy Director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) in June 2014. In this role, he is accountable to the Director for providing oversight of the interagency development of an integrated global nuclear detection architecture, an interagency nuclear forensics capability, and related operational and policy matters. He oversees the acquisition, support and deployment of elements of the domestic nuclear detection architecture, including research and development, interagency coordination, synchronization and protocol development for a seamless system for detection through alarm resolution, search, and response. On behalf of the Director, Dr. Brasure ensures relevant issues are addressed through collaboration across DHS components and federal/interagency partners, including the Department of Energy (DOE), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In addition, he ensures close cooperation and support between DHS, DOE, DOD, the Department of State, FBI, state, local, tribal and territorial governments, national laboratories, academia, and the private sector. As the Component Acquisition Executive, he is responsible for establishing acquisition processes and overseeing the execution of the acquisition portfolio within DNDO.
Dr. Brasure has served in a wide variety of disciplines, organizations, and national security programs as an active-duty Air Force officer, in the private sector, and in federal civil service. Prior to joining DHS, he served as the Director of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) where he managed the entire basic research investment portfolio for the Air Force, leading a staff of 200 scientists, engineers, and administrators in the U.S. and foreign technology offices in London, Tokyo, and Santiago. He previously served as the Executive Director, Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. As the Center’s senior executive, his responsibilities included leadership, program oversight, and integration of the multi-billion dollar sustainment and recapitalization of Air Force nuclear deterrent weapon systems. Other notable highlights include his strategic defense initiative and nuclear weapons work, which led him to assignments in weapons engineering at Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM, and in weapons design at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, CA. He has held senior leadership and management positions in the DOE’s National Nuclear Security Administration and in the Air Force. He also has served on the faculty of the U.S. Air Force Academy (Physics Department) and as an Adjunct Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of New Mexico.
Dr. Brasure received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics and astronomy from the University of Michigan, Master of Science degrees in systems management from the University of Southern California and in nuclear engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from The University of New Mexico.
