Mr. Ben Laake is the Department of Energy / National Nuclear Security Administration Visiting Faculty member at the National Defense University’s College of International Strategic Affairs. Ben reported to National Defense University from NNSA where he was the Senior Technical Advisor to the Office of Engineering and Technology Maturation. His responsibilities included being the Defense Programs lead for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). He was also the lead for the joint DOE/IC Vulnerability Assessment Team which identified and addressed foreign subversion threats to the US nuclear security enterprise.
Prior to serving with the NNSA, Ben served as a Senior Engineer at the Defense Nuclear Facility Safety Board providing oversight of DOE nuclear explosive safety and nuclear facility operations. Ben also served at Los Alamos National Laboratory as a nuclear weapons engineer ensuring the safety, security, and reliability of the US nuclear weapons stockpile.
Ben holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, an MS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of New Mexico, an MS in Management from Purdue University, and an MA in Religion from Liberty University. Ben lives with his wife, Kathryn, in Stafford, Virginia. They have six children.