Michael H. Decker

Michael H. Decker
Senior International/Defense Research Analyst
Off Site Office

Education

M.S. in strategic intelligence, Nat'l Defense Intelligence College; M.A. in government/national security studies, Georgetown University; B.A. in business administration, University of Notre Dame

Overview

Mike Decker is a Senior International/Defense Research Analyst.  Decker previously served as Director, Marine Forces Programs at RAND.  Decker recently served as Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight. During this assignment he received the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.  Prior to his appointment as ATSD (IO), Decker served as Director and Assistant Director of Intelligence, U.S. Marine Corps. In those positions he provided professional intelligence management and policy support in the conduct of all aspects of Marine Corps intelligence, including all-source analysis, geospatial intelligence, signals intelligence, and counterintelligence/human intelligence activities within the Marine Corps, Defense, and National Intelligence Communities, served as the USMC MIP and NIP program manager and supervised the Marine Corps intelligence information security and sensitive compartmented information security programs, as well as serving as the intelligence occupational field sponsor responsible for managing the military and civilian intelligence workforce. During this assignment he received the Distinguished and Meritorious Presidential Rank Awards as well as the Defense Intelligence Director’s Award. As a Marine Corps infantry officer he served two deployments to the Mediterranean Sea, including deployment to Beirut, Lebanon as part of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force. Decker also served as an intelligence officer with a Marine Expeditionary Unit in the Western Pacific and deployed to Saudi Arabia as a senior intelligence analyst and theater intelligence planner for Marine Forces Central Command during Operation Desert Storm, for which he received the Bronze Star Medal. 

Concurrent Non-RAND Positions

Member, AFCEA Intelligence Committee

Previous Positions

Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Intelligence Oversight; Director of Intelligence, U.S. Marine Corps; Adjunct Professor, National Security Studies, Georgetown University

Selected Publications

Michael H. Decker, "Intelligence Plan Implementation: 1994 - 2008," INTSUM Magazine http://www.mcia-inc.org, (1), 2014

Weinbaum, Cortney, John V. Parachini, Richard S. Girven, Michael H. Decker, and Richard C. Baffa, Perspectives and Opportunities in Intelligence for U.S. Leaders, RAND Corporation (PE-287-OSD), 2018

Michael H. Decker and William Mackenzie, "The Birth and Early Years of Marine Corps Intelligence," Marine Corps History, (Winter 202), 2020

Anthony Atler, Jonathan P. Wong, Madeline Magnuson, Cullen Nutt, Michael Decker, A Different Fight, A Small-unit Leader’s Guide to the Capabilities and Tactics of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces, MCIA (TL-244-MCIA), 2017

Honors & Awards

  • National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal, Director of National Intelligence
  • Presidential Rank Awards (Distinguished Executive), President George W. Bush
  • Bronze Star Medal, United States Marine Corps

Publications