Milan “Mitch” Nikolich and James Gosler, national security experts from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, have joined the Department of War’s Science, Technology and Innovation Board, or STIB.
APL said Thursday Nikolich will serve as the STIB’s inaugural chair and Gosler will sit on the board as a member.
APL Director Dave Van Wie said Nikolich and Gosler’s expertise will support the new board’s mission to connect technical researchers and industry partners and help national leaders maintain U.S. leadership in critical technologies.
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What Is the DOW STIB?
The STIB is a new advisory panel established by Emil Michael, under secretary of war for research and engineering and a 2026 Wash100 awardee. The STIB consolidates the former Defense Science Board and Defense Innovation Board into a single entity to provide faster scientific and technical assessments and accelerate the delivery of capabilities to warfighters. It will operate with the Subcommittee on Strategic Options and the Subcommittee on National Security Innovation.
According to APL, the STIB includes 18 science and technology experts from industry, government and the research community.
The STIB is awaiting formal establishment through publication in the Federal Register.
Who Is Mitch Nikolich?
Nikolich is a senior researcher within APL’s National Security Analysis Department. He previously served as director of defense research and engineering for research and technology from 2018 to 2020.
He has held senior roles at several firms, including SAIC, CACI and National Security Research. He also served in the physics division at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
His career includes contributions to the Strategic Defense Initiative, the department’s Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction program and nuclear weapons modernization efforts.
Who Is James Gosler?
Gosler is a senior fellow at APL and has more than five decades of technical leadership experience in national security, cybersecurity, counterterrorism and nuclear weapon security.
He spent more than 30 years at Sandia National Laboratories, where he founded and led the Vulnerability Assessments Program and became Sandia’s sixth fellow.
The U.S. Navy veteran was the first director of the CIA’s Clandestine Information Technology Office. He is also a former member of the Defense Science Board, the National Security Agency Advisory Board and the Naval Studies Board.
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