John Burnham is the deputy assistant secretary for threat reduction and arms control at the Defense Department, where he also serves as principal adviser to the assistant secretary for acquisition oversight, implementation and compliance.
Burnham most recently served as commander of the Joint Interagency Task Force in the national capital region.
He also recently retired from the U.S. Navy as a captain after 28 years of service.
Burnham began his career with the Navy as a surface warfare officer onboard the USS Marvin Shields in San Diego and later moved into naval special warfare with his first assignment to Seal team TWOÂ in 1992.
He was a platoon and task unit commander, a squadron commander at naval special warfare development group, an advance force operations element commander and a task force commander at the Navy Seal, among other roles within the service.
Burnham earned his master’s degree in business administration from the College of William and Mary.
