Rob Spalding

SEMPRE is led by Dr. Rob Spalding, Brig Gen USAF (ret), former senior director of strategy at the National Security Council, White House. He is supported by a team of experienced industry veterans. SEMPRE is a continuation of his vision of secure digital infrastructure created while at the NSC.

Rob has served in senior positions of strategy and diplomacy within the Defense and State Departments for more than 26 years, retiring as brigadier general. He was the chief architect for the widely praised 2017 National Security Strategy and the Senior Director for Strategy to the President at the National Security Council. Rob’s innovation while serving in the White House has led to a reset in national security and public policy regarding telecommunications in the US as well as globally.

Rob has written extensively on national security matters. His academic papers and editorial work are frequently published and cited, both nationally and internationally. He has been interviewed about the economy and national security on FOX News, BBC, OAN and CNBC.

Rob is a skilled combat leader and a seasoned diplomat. Under Rob’s leadership, the 509th Operations Group—the nation’s only B-2 Stealth Bomber unit—experienced unprecedented technological and operational advances. Rob led his team through complex B-2 technological issues all the while achieving tremendous results at little to no cost to the government. He is a former China strategist for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, as well as having served as the senior defense official and defense attaché in Beijing.

Rob’s relationship with business leaders, fostered during his time as a Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, allowed him to recommend pragmatic solutions to complex foreign policy and national security issues, now driving positive economic outcomes for the nation. Rob is an Olmsted Scholar, a Life Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, Washington, D.C., as well as a Senior Associate Fellow at the Henry Jackson Society of London. He has lectured globally, including engagements at European Cybersec 2019, KAS-ASPI, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory. He holds a doctorate in economics and mathematics from the University of Missouri, Kansas City.