Mary Beth Long


Mary Beth Long is an American foreign policy expert, entrepreneur, and former U.S. Government official. From 2007–2009, Long served as the first woman confirmed by the U.S. Senate as an Assistant Secretary of Defense, and as such, was the first female civilian four-star military equivalent in the history of the Pentagon. She led the International Security Affairs office in the Office of the Secretary of Defense responsible for policy for the Middle East, Europe, and Africa. She was also the first woman ever to be appointed as Chair of NATO's High Level Group, the highest-level responsible for NATO's nuclear policy and reporting directly to the Secretary General of NATO.
In 2016, media identified Long as Secretary of Defense James Mattis’ first choice for the position as Undersecretary of Policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Long, who signed an open letter concerning President Trump's candidacy, did not receive the appointment.
Long is the owner of law firm MB Long & Associates PLLC, which specializes in export compliance. She also serves as Founder and Principal at Global Alliance Advisors and owner of Askari Defense and Intelligence, LLC. Long founded her first defense company, Metis Solutions LLC, in 2010 and sold it to private equity in 2016.

Early life and education

Long is a Clearfield, Pennsylvania native and the first person in her family to attend university. She is a 1985 Honors Program Graduate, magna cum laude, of Penn State University with a bachelor's degree in communications studies and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa while at Penn State. She attended the Taiwan National University and the Fu Ren Catholic University in Taiwan, extending her stay to travel and study Chinese language and culture on the Mainland.
In 1998, Long graduated cum laude with her J.D. from Washington and Lee University School of Law.

Career

Long served as an Operations Officer for the Central Intelligence Agency from 1986 to 1999. She was one of six women to be the first included in the Agency's Clandestine Operations in Dangerous Areas advanced weapons course and received several Superior Performance Awards, including in Covert Action. She served as deputy and acting chief for the Haiti Task Force and was co-chair of a joint CIA-Drug Enforcement Administration counternarcotics targeting team.
After leaving the CIA, Long was an associate at Williams & Connolly Law Firm from 1999 to 2004, where she specialized in civil litigation matters.
Long began her career at the Department of Defense in May 2004 as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counter Narcoterrorism with a budget of over $1 billion and served in that role until 2005. She spent considerable time in Afghanistan and was the architect of the counter narcotic police and other training.. From 2006 to 2007, she was dual hatted as the Principle Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and DASD Counternarcotics, adding policy oversight of the Western Hemisphere, Asia, South East Asia, Africa and the Middle East to her portfolio.
In December 2007, Long became the first woman to be confirmed by the Senate as an Assistant Secretary of Defense. That same year, Long was appointed Chairman of the High Level Group responsible for NATO's nuclear policy, reporting to the Secretary General of NATO. Long represented DoD Policy at National Security Council at the National Security Council Deputies’ Meetings and also provided Congressional testimony on a variety of matters.
In 2009, Long was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Distinguished Civilian Service Award, the Pentagon's highest honors.
After leaving public office Long worked as outside counsel to Xe/Blackwater owned by Erik Prince. Long founded her own company in 2009 and has been the Principal at M B Long & Associates PLLC, a law firm specializing in international compliance. In 2010, she joined NeuralIQ Government Services, Inc as Executive Vice President. She also co-founded Askari Defense and Intelligence, LLC, and led a defense delegation consisting of major U.S. defense corporations to Libya in 2013. In 2010, Long founded Metis Solutions, a government contracting company, which she sold in 2016. In 2017, Long co-founded the consulting firm Global Alliance Advisors with partner Richard Kirkland; and Charles Thomas Burbage, Jeffrey Kohler, Vice Admiral John W. Miller, and Admiral William J. Fallon] joined shortly thereafter.
From 2013–2016, Long served as a Senior Subject Matter Expert for the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO and as a Senior International Advisor to the Minister of Defense of Colombia.

Affiliations

Currently, Long is a member of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid appointed by the Director of USAID and is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Defense and Aerospace Export Council on conventional arms transfer policy and unmanned aerial systems policy. She also serves on the advisory board for MAG Aerospace and as a Cipher Brief expert. Long is a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She is a member of the U.S.-UAE Business Council and serves as an advisor to a number of businesses, including GlobalEyes and Fluet Huber + Hoang PLLC Law Firm.
In 2010, Long joined the External Advisory Board of the Penn State School of International Affairs.
Long is involved in the Harvard-sponsored U.S.-Israel Track II Iran negotiations, the Council on Foreign Relations North Korea “Sharper Choice” report, the Bi-partisan Policy Center's Syria and Middle East Project, and CSIS's Task Force on Global Forced Migration. From 2006–2007, Long served on Penn State University's Schreyer's External Advisory Board. Long has also contributed as a panelist for the McCain Institute and Chatham House and as a writer to The American Interest.
Long was a senior advisor to the Mitt Romney presidential campaign in 2012, was a member of the campaign's Intelligence transition team, and was quoted as an expert on issues of national security and foreign policy during the 2016 election campaign. Long has appeared on Fox News, BBC, CNN, and CSP, among other global publications and media. In June 2016 she was featured in Forbes magazine's Women Business Leaders.

Honors and awards

In 2018, Long was featured in Forbes as a Woman Business Leader.
In 2008, The Penn State Alumni Association named Long as an Alumni Fellow. Schreyer Honors College recognized her as an Outstanding Alumni Scholar in 2006.. In June 2017, Long received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Penn State University, the University's highest honor presented to its alumni. The same year, she was appointed to the inaugural Provost's Global Advisory Council at the University.
In 2010, Long was the 15th speaker in the annual Mark Luchinisky Memorial Lecture series at Penn State University.
While at DoD and CIA, Long received a number of Awards, including the Patriot Award from the National Guard, both as a while serving in the Pentagon and while a civilian employer after leaving Defense.