Mr. John D. Hill was appointed as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space and Missile Defense in January 2022.

A Presidential Rank Award recipient and member of the career Senior Executive Service, Mr. Hill served as the Principal Director for Space Policy from 2013-2021 and has held a diverse variety of assignments in the Department of Defense (DoD) beyond the space portfolio. He was DoD’s representative in negotiations with Afghanistan on the Security and Defense Cooperation Agreement that enabled a post-2014 presence of United States and NATO forces. Mr. Hill has held two prior Principal Director positions in DoD, overseeing defense policies and programs regarding Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia from 2010-2012, and holding similar responsibilities regarding the East Asia region from 2006-2010.

In previous assignments as the Director for Northeast Asia and as the Senior Country Director for Japan, Mr. Hill led DoD’s management of U.S. alliance relationships with Japan and the Republic of Korea and oversaw security policies regarding the Korean Peninsula.

Mr. Hill’s career includes extensive experience across a wide range of international negotiations encompassing defense posture, status of forces, nuclear non-proliferation, defense industrial collaboration, international trade, and host nation support agreements. His early career highlights included roles in developing the longstanding U.S. policy on offsets in military exports and development and implementation of the Gulf War program under which coalition partners contributed $53 billion to defray U.S. costs.

As a member of the inaugural class of Mansfield Fellows, Mr. Hill served assignments on detail to the Japan Defense Agency, the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren), and Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Mr. Hill joined DoD through selection to the Presidential Management Internship Program, serving assignments with the Army Security Assistance Command, the Office of Management and Budget, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Mr. Hill received his Master of Arts in International Affairs from American University, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science at UCLA. He and his wife Lynn live in Fairfax, Virginia. They have three daughters who are embarked on their own professional careers.