Trip Barber

Chief Analyst

Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc. (SPA)

Mr. Barber is currently the Chief Analyst for Systems Planning and Analysis, Inc.. He retired from the Navy in 2014 after 41 years of service, 28 as an officer and 13 as a Senior Executive Service civilian. 25 of those years of service were spent in the Pentagon, all in the field of program and capability analysis.

Mr. Barber graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics, receiving a U.S. Navy commission from the Reserve Officer Training Corps unit there. He received a Master of Science in Electrical Engineering (with distinction) and an additional subspecialty in weapons system engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Mr. Barber served on active duty in the Navy for 28 years, retiring as a Captain. His sea assignments included service at all levels in destroyers including command of USS DEYO (DD 989). He also commanded Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek and Naval Station Norfolk.

Mr. Barber's years in the Pentagon included participation in every DOD quadrennial defense strategy and program review since the end of the Cold War. He served as a weapons program analyst in the Navy Programming Division (N80), a defense-wide budget analyst in the Joint Staff (J-8), and as the integration branch head in the Assessment Division (N81). He also served as Executive Assistant to the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and as Deputy Director of the Navy team for the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review. He became a civilian and a member of the Navy Senior Executive Service in 2002 as the Director of the Analysis, Programming, and Integration Division (N70), and then served as Deputy Director of the Assessment Division (N81), responsible for developing and managing the Navy’s central corporate analytic program of 150 studies per year and analytic staff of 100 military and civilians as the Navy’s chief analyst from 2004 until his retirement from civilian service in June, 2014.

Mr. Barber's Navy decorations include both the Navy and the Defense Department Distinguished Civilian Service Awards, the Presidential Rank Award (Meritorious) for Senior Executives, the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit (two awards). He is a Fellow of the Military Operations Research Society.

Event Participation