Dr. Brian Mazanec
Director, Defense Capabilities & Management
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Brian Mazanec is a Director (SES) with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)’s Defense Capabilities and Management team, where he is responsible for co-leading the Strategic Warfare and Intelligence portfolio. He leads and manages multiple teams evaluating a variety of national security programs and activities related to emerging warfare issues;
intelligence community management; security and counterintelligence; sensitive activities and
programs; personnel vetting; and space policy and operations. He received his Ph.D. from George Mason University’s Schar School of Policy and Government and also holds a B.A. in political science from the University of Richmond and a M.S. in defense and strategic studies
from Missouri State University’s Department of Defense and Strategic Studies.
Outside of GAO, Brian’s academic research has focused on cyber issues and has been published in various journals. He is the author of the book The Evolution of Cyber War: International Norms for Emerging-Technology Weapons (University of Nebraska Press, 2015),
co-author of Deterring Cyber Warfare: Bolstering Strategic Stability in Cyberspace (Palgrave McMillan, 2014) and Understanding Cyber Warfare: Politics, Policy and Strategy (1st edition graduate textbook, Routledge, 2018), and co-editor of Information Warfare in the Age of Cyber
Conflict (Routledge, 2020).