Mr. Hamilton retired from Civil Service in 2014 after serving 11 years in the Senior Executive Service and 29 years in uniform. Since then, he has been CEO of a consulting firm Eagle Aerie, Inc. Aside from consulting for MIT and other small businesses, he sits on several corporate advisory boards. He currently serves as President and CEO of Guardtime Federal, Inc. He has also served on a Committee of the National Academies of Science for Innovation and Experimentation and as a consultant to the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board.
Mr. Hamilton participated in development and testing of rocket propulsion systems at the Air Force Rocket Propulsion Laboratory, and as a test engineer for the Air Force Flight Test Center, developing simulations used during the Space Shuttle Orbital Flight Test Program. He served as the program executive officer for the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle program, the only DoD program conducting flight from Mach 0 to Mach 24 and back again. He has an in-depth understanding of the challenges of high speed flight in the atmosphere and the planning and execution challenges for on-orbit and reentry operations applicable to all future high-speed aerospace systems – whether they be for weapons or advanced high-speed aircraft.
After graduation from USAF Test Pilot School, Mr. Hamilton participated in developmental and operational ground and flight-testing of numerous aerospace systems and graduated from USAF Electronic Warfare Officer Training as a distinguished graduate. Assigned to the B-1B Combined Test Force, he flew on B-1A and was the flight test engineer and defensive systems operator on the first three B-1B performance and flying qualities flight tests. He wrote the entire test plan for the testing of the electronic warfare sensors and systems for the B-1B program. This background is specifically applicable to the testing required to bring a new large weapon system through testing to an operational status.
As Director of Special Test Programs at the Air Force Flight Test Center, he participated in Tacit Blue, F-117, Advanced Cruise Missile, B-2, and other classified experimental and developmental programs. He also served on the Executive Independent Review Team for Boeing “Bird of Prey.” In these roles he planned, conducted, analyzed and reported upon technical aspects of unique advanced technologies used to make these programs operationally relevant. At that time Mr Hamilton conceived, designed and managed the development of a unique analysis tool used for storing, analyzing, and reviewing all radar cross section data collected in flight test. An evolutionary version of that tool is still in use.
Mr. Hamilton has directed the Air Force Red Team and the Family of Systems Architecture team, stretching over three decades in analysis and flight testing. Both of these provide independent assessments of U.S. military capabilities and their vulnerabilities to senior Air Force and DOD leaders.
He retired from the Air Force in the rank of colonel, was appointed to the Senior Executive Service in 2003 and was designated as a Program Executive Officer in 2007. Prior to assuming his position as Director of the Rapid Capabilities Office and Program Executive Officer, Mr. Hamilton worked for a Washington, D.C. consulting and engineering firm. Mr. Hamilton has served on several senior budget and technical review boards in the department of defense, specifically related to advanced technology and special programs.
