Marcia Holmes serves as the Deputy Director for Golden Dome for America (GDA), a vital program within the Office of the Secretary of War. Reporting directly to the Director, Ms. Holmes is jointly responsible for building a comprehensive, layered defense of the homeland to ensure the safety of the American people against ballistic, hypersonic, and advanced cruise missiles, as well as other next-generation aerial threats from near-peer and rogue nations.
In this capacity, she helps lead the development and execution of the $185 billion Golden Dome for America portfolio. She is instrumental in forging aggressive partnerships across industry, academia, national laboratories, and government agencies to rapidly develop and field next-generation capabilities, including integrated command and control, space-based sensors, and non- kinetic effects.
Ms. Holmes began her career as a defense contractor before joining the civil service in 2000, bringing more than two decades of unparalleled engineering and technical expertise to her current mandate. Her diverse career spans critical air and missile defense operations, with deep experience in identifying, incubating, and transitioning advanced systems-of-systems. A proven leader and change agent, she has actively shaped and supported a wide variety of pivotal defense capabilities, including Patriot, Stinger, Sentinel, the Surface-Launched Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile, and Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD).
Her notable assignments include serving as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Mission Capabilities. In that role, she led an organization dedicated to accelerating the development and integration of disruptive technologies to maintain the United States’ technological superiority, closing time-critical gaps in high-priority national security missions.
Ms. Holmes graduated with honors from Athens State College with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and earned a Master of Science in Program Management from the Naval Postgraduate School. Reflecting her commitment to the missile defense mission, she is a member of the Honorable Order of Saint Barbara, a military honor society for Army and Marine Corps Field and Air Defense Artillery. Her outstanding contributions to the government have been recognized with the Achievement Medal for Civilian Service, the Meritorious Civilian Service Medal, and the Superior Civilian Service Medal.
