[2] He next worked at the Braddock Dunn & McDonald facility in Huntsville, Alabama, where he provided engineering support for the United States Army's missile defense efforts.

[2] Young then returned to school, attending Stanford University, receiving a master's degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics.

[1] On June 24, 2001, President of the United States George W. Bush nominated Young as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Research, Development and Acquisitions) and he was sworn in on July 17, 2001.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates then asked Young to lead a task for to expedite the production of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.

These vehicles saved the lives of many soldiers from improvised explosive devices (IEDs), becoming one of the hallmarks of Secretary Gates' tenure.

[4] Notable work as AT&L included endorsing a remarkable swap of DDG-1000 and DDG-51 shipbuilding contracts between two industry teams and implementing new acquisition practices, management approaches and requirements reviews.

John is also a member of the Board of Directors of Saab Defense USA, SRI International, Ultra Electronics, Tenax Aerospace, Satelles, Assured Information Security and the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.