John J. Young, Jr. is the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics. The Senate confirmed him to this position in November 2007.

As the Under Secretary of Defense (AT&L), Mr. Young is responsible for advising the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense on all matters relating to the DoD Acquisition System, research and development, advanced technology, developmental test and evaluation, production, logistics, installation management, military construction, procurement, environmental security, nuclear, chemical, and biological matters; as well as logistics policy matters to assist the end-to-end logistics process in delivering to the warfighter.

Before his appointment to USD (AT&L), Mr. Young served at the Department of Defense as the Director, Defense Research and Engineering.  As the Director, Mr. Young was the Principal Advisor to the Secretary of Defense on technical matters and acted as the Department’s Chief Technology Officer. 

His portfolio included oversight of a $70 Billion research enterprise, including: Basic and Applied Research, development of certain prototypes, oversight of the Service laboratories and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Defense Technical Information Center (DTIC). 

Mr. Young is also the former Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. As the Navy's Senior Acquisition Executive, Mr. Young implemented a wide range of innovative organizational and business practices to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of Navy and Marine Corps procurement and research programs. 

Under his leadership, the Navy acquisition team successfully changed Navy acquisition approaches through programs like Operation Respond and the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).  Mr. Young has also pursued greater jointness on many efforts, including his successful merger of the Air Force and Navy Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) clusters and the Distributed Common Ground Station (DCGS).

Mr. Young also served as a Professional Staff member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. During his tenure with the Committee, he served as the staff analyst for Department of Defense procurement, research, development, test and evaluation (RDT&E) programs.

Prior to leaving the Committee, he was responsible for reviewing all DoD aircraft procurement programs as well as the activities of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). He also evaluated the science and technology program budgets for the Navy, Air Force, and OSD.