Matthew L. Howard

Mr. Matthew Howard is the Deputy Director for International Cooperation (IC) within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (OUSD(A&S)). In this role, Mr. Howard is responsible for leading, developing and implementing international armaments cooperation policy within the Department of Defense (DoD) in coordination with U.S. Government agencies, foreign governments, and defense industry. This activity includes cooperation with allies and partners on research, development, production, and support of weapons systems and related equipment.

Mr. Howard previously served as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. In this capacity, he advised on all matters across the OUSD(A&S) portfolio — including international cooperation, the defense acquisition system, sustainment and industrial base matters, installations and environment, and nuclear, chemical, and biological defense—and directly supported the Chief of Staff on all day-to-day operations management. He concurrently served as Director of Strategic Communications for OUSD(A&S), where he was responsible to the Under Secretary for the organization’s communications strategy, strategic engagements, and development of products to advance the OUSD(A&S) mission and vision internally and externally.

Prior to this role, Mr. Howard served as Strategic Communications Lead for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Acquisition where he oversaw all speaking and indsutry engagement, media relations, and written and social media on topics including defense acquisition reform, program management, and contracting policy.

Previously, Mr. Howard was a strategic analyst in the U.S Army Logistics Iniatives Group. In this position, he supported three Deputy Chiefs of Staff, G-4 in the formulation and execution of their strategic direction for policy development, implementation, and external engagement. He was also a significant contributor to Army Sustainment Magazine, the Army’s professional bulletin for logistics, on behalf of the G-4 and published nearly 50 feature interviews with Department of Defense and Army senior leadership.

A native of Blacksburg, Virginia, Mr. Howard holds master’s and bachelor’s degrees from Georgetown University.