Paul Brinkley

Paul Brinkley is the former Deputy Under Secretary of Defense who oversaw business transformation and the Task Force to Improve Business and Stability Operations in Iraq. He joined the Department of Defense in 2005 after many years working at JDS Uniphase Corporation, a global optical communications firm. Paul Brinkley stayed with the Department of Defense for six years before retiring in 2011.

An industrial engineer by training, Mr. Brinkley was appointed by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. As the founder and leader of the task force, his goal and responsibility was to drive economic development in Iraq, and to encourage self-sufficiency among Iraqis. The task force took a multifaceted approach, employing Iraqis on contracted jobs while also negotiating and encouraging Western firms to invest in Iraq. Mr. Brinkley sought to reopen Iraqi state-owned factories and gradually privatize them.

Paul Brinkley successfully reinvigorated private banking and agricultural projects in Iraq; both led to increased Iraqi employment. Three years after the task force’s founding, over 200 corporate executives and investors visited Iraq, bringing with them over $5 billion in investments. In addition, employment rates among Iraqis greatly increased.

In addition to the task force in Iraq, Paul Brinkley also led a similar task force in Afghanistan, which he began in 2009 after seeing the success of the Iraq task force. Mr. Brinkley led that task force for two years, before retiring.