Fred Downey
Vice President, National Security
Aerospace Industries Association
Fred Downey, Vice President, National Security, is responsible for monitoring and analyzing national security issues that affect the U.S. aerospace industry’s ability to support the Defense Department and to compete and cooperate in the national and global marketplace.
Downey also coordinates the activities of the association’s National Security and Technical Operations Councils and their associated committees and working groups to develop industry consensus and responses to these issues.
Downey comes to AIA from the office of Sen. Joe Lieberman, where he served as senior counselor and legislative aide for defense and foreign affairs. Downey has been Lieberman’s point person on these issues for 12 years. Downey was the senator’s designated representative to the Senate Armed Services Committee and staffed him in his role as chair of the Airland Subcommittee. He worked directly on Army and Air Force policy and budget issues and the annual defense authorization bill, among many other assignments.
Prior to joining Lieberman’s office, Downey was in the private sector, working on defense program analytical services for TASC Inc. That came after a 24-year career in the U.S. Army, including the Pentagon postings of assistant to the Director of Net Assessments and Strategy Team Chief for the Strategic Plans and Policy Directorate. Downey’s Army career included a variety of infantry and armor troop and staff positions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Vietnam.
He currently is a member of the Board of Visitors of the US Army War College and the Board of Advisors of the International Studies Department at the Virginia Military Institute.
Downey graduated with honors from the University of Kansas with a Master of Political Science, attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and received a Bachelor of Arts, Distinguished Military Graduate, from the Virginia Military Institute.
Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial systems, space systems, aircraft engines, materiel, and related components, equipment services, and information technology.
