Dave Kilian is a Senior Advisor to IFS. He has nearly twenty-nine years of service to the federal government in both the executive and legislative branches. This includes eight years as a civilian budget analyst for the U.S. Air Force in the Pentagon, one year as a supervisory budget analyst in the Department of the Treasury with the U.S. Customs Service, and twenty years as a Professional Staff Member of the House Appropriations Committee. On the hill, he worked 17 years for the Defense Subcommittee where he primarily handled weapon system acquisition, and research and development of advanced technologies, for each of the military services and defense agencies under both political parties. During the last three years of his federal career, Dave worked for the democratic staff of the House Appropriations Committee under Congressman Dave Obey, as Minority Staff Director for Defense Appropriations under Congressman Jack Murtha and later as Minority Staff Director for Energy and Water Development Appropriations under Congressman Pete Visclosky. In the energy field, Dave worked with programs of the Departments of Energy and Interior, and the Army Corps of Engineers. During his career Dave held some of the highest security clearances in the federal government for programs in the Department of Defense, the Intelligence Community, and Department of Energy nuclear weapons.
Besides weapons system issues, Dave has considerable experience in information technology development. He was once named by Federal Computer Week in its “Federal 100” of the most influential individuals. He has also handled space programs, ballistic missile defense, intelligence programs, defense conversion, military construction, foreign military sales, and homeland security issues during his career. He is intimately familiar with the science programs in the Department of Energy and the programs of the national laboratories, as well as DOE’s efforts to environmentally restore former nuclear weapons manufacturing facilities.
Dave has a Master of Business Administration degree in Federal Procurement and Contracting, and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Notre Dame in mathematics.