Hunter F. Lutinski, a Tier 2 member of the Senior Executive Service, is the Acting Executive Director of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA). In this role, he serves as the Agency’s senior civilian and Chief Operating Officer overseeing 2,100 military and civilian professionals operating in over 50 countries. Mr. Lutinski manages the execution of over $2B to provide the Department of Defense's Service Components, Combatant Commands, the U.S. Interagency, and international partners with leading-edge capabilities to counter and deter adversary use of Weapons of Mass Destruction and emerging threats.
Mr. Lutinski was appointed to the SES on August 15, 2010. His previous SES assignments include the Director for Strategic Integration, Vice Director for Plans and Programs, Director of the Intelligence and Plans Directorate, and Director of the On-Site Inspection Directorate.
In his previous role as Director, Strategic Integration, Mr. Lutinski was responsible for the development and integration of Strategy, Plans and Resources across DTRA, assuring alignment to the National Defense Strategy with identified measurable outcomes to enable increased focus on combat support, lethality, and readiness toward our pacing threat. Mr. Lutinski and his team developed DTRA campaign approaches to counter key adversaries, supported SOCOM in Global Counter Weapons of Mass Destruction Campaign Plan development, provided subject matter expertise in training, plans, and exercises in support of combatant commands, NATO and the Joint Staff. Mr. Lutinski championed the innovative development of Opportunity Analysis capability across 6 Cabinet-level Departments, 5 Intelligence Offices, 5 National Laboratories, the FVEY Partners plus France and Germany against a problem of national strategic consequence - an effort that led directly to a Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff signed PLANORD. Additionally, Mr. Lutinski led an extremely effective Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness team and achieved DTRA’s first unmodified audit opinion - a SECDEF priority.
As Director of the On-Site Inspection Directorate, he led the successful implementation of the first years of New START, which re-established “boots on the ground” inspections of Russian strategic weapons facilities after over a year of inactivity caused by the expiration of START I. In addition, he oversaw the implementation of nine other Arms Control Treaties and Agreements. In response to the Russian invasion of Crimea, he personally coordinated the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s first inspection of the contested area. In addition, he was the senior USG official to participate in Open Skies observation flights along the de facto border caused by Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. He oversaw a unique USG security program to identify and protect against any threats posed by foreign inspection equipment and maintained and strengthened the DoD’s premier language training program, ensuring a world class cadre of linguists providing 24/7 support to the Nation’s treaty implementation commitments.
Prior to his appointment to the SES, he served as the Deputy Director and then Acting Director of the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Directorate at DTRA, leading the Nunn-Lugar CTR program to assist countries in dismantling WMD, delivery systems and related infrastructure. As the Program Manager for Nuclear Weapons Safety and Security from 2004-2007 he was responsible for all DoD CTR projects to enhance the security of nuclear weapons in the Russian Federation. He and his team successfully accelerated completion of security upgrades at 24 sites across eight time zones by two years to meet Bush administration commitments.
From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Lutinski served as the CTR Division Chief at the DTRA office in Moscow, where he led in-country CTR program support. He also advised the U.S. Embassy Moscow interagency country team, G-8 members, and European Missions on key issues pertaining to DoD CTR assistance. During this time, he personally finalized negotiation and coordination of 10 bilateral agreements committing the USG to provide more than $650 million in additional CTR assistance to the Russian Federation.
Mr. Lutinski joined the DoD in 1996 as a project officer with the Defense Nuclear Agency, which became part of DTRA when it formed in 1998. From 1996 to 2002, he worked on fissile material control projects under the CTR Program with the Russian Federation and was responsible for the development and implementation of unprecedented nuclear weapons elimination and nuclear materials monitoring projects to include construction of a facility capable of the safe, secure storage of up to 50 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium. Prior to joining the DoD, Mr. Lutinski was a defense analyst with Science Applications International Corporation in McLean, Virginia, supporting various DoD and State Department offices on arms control and threat reduction.
Mr. Lutinski has a Master of Public & International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh, where he was the recipient of a Pew Foundation Fellowship. He has a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He is a member of the DoD Acquisition Corps and is Level III certified in program management. His awards include the DTRA Director’s Award for Meritorious Service, the DTRA Director’s Award for Exceptional Service, the 2008 DTRA High-Grade Employee of the Year, DTRA Team of the Year in 2008, Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Workforce Development Award (Bronze) in 2009, DTRA Mentor of the Year in 2016, and DTRA Team of the Year in 2024.