Homeland Security Investor Conference

Michael P. Jackson

Michael P. Jackson is President and co-founder of Firebreak Partners, LLC, a firm created to finance and deploy high-value security networks to protect aviation infrastructure and other criti cal assets.

Mr. Jackson has extensive experience in executive positions in both the private sector and the federal government. From early 2005 through October 2007, he was Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In this role, Mr. Jackson was the Department’s chief operating officer, with responsibility for managing day-to-day operations at DHS. Formed in 2003, DHS has some 210,000 employees, with an annual budget in FY 2006 of $48.5 billion. Its seven operating components and over twenty supporting organizations span the range of homeland security missions, including counter-terrorism, emergency management, law enforcement, research and development and intelligence analysis.

Mr. Jackson served as Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) from May 2001 to August 2003. His tenure there was particularly focused on DOT’s response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including creation of the new Transportation Security Administration and management of recovery efforts for the nation’s aviation industry. He served as a member of the Board of Directors for Amtrak and was chairman of its Audit Committee.

At both departments, Mr. Jackson’s duties as Deputy Secretary focused on executive recruitment, strategic planning, technology and systems acquisition, budget and program oversight, substantial policy coordination within the Administration, frequent Congressional testimony, and interface with key partners, including foreign governments, state and local officials, infrastructure operators, industry groups and the media.

Mr. Jackson also held positions working for two earlier Presidents. In the Administration of President George H. W. Bush, he served at the White House as Special Assistant to the President for Cabinet Liaison, and later as Chief of Staff for the Secretary of Transportation.

From late 2003 to January 2005, Mr. Jackson served as Senior Vice President of AECOM Technology Corporation, a global family of design and engineering firms, where he was responsible for strategic government relations and served as Chief Operating Officer of AECOM’s Government Services Group. In 2004, he was a member of the President's Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy, which provided a management roadmap for undertaking NASA’s future missions.

Before joining DOT in 2001, Mr. Jackson worked as Chief Operating Officer at Lockheed Martin IMS’s Transportation Systems and Services. IMS’s transportation group provided technology services to toll authorities, freight transportation companies and 35 state governments. From 1993 until 1997, Mr. Jackson was Senior Vice President at the American Trucking Associations, where he managed intermodal, international and technology policy matters.

He has been a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute and taught political science at the University of Georgia and at Georgetown University. Mr. Jackson graduated from the University of Houston with a B.A. and received a Ph.D. with distinction from the Government Department at Georgetown University in 1985.