Ken Plaks
Office Director
Tactical Technology Office
Dr. Ken Plaks is director of the Tactical Technology Office, a role he assumed in June 2023.
He previously serviced as director of the agency’s Adaptive Capabilities Office, where he managed several highly collaborative efforts to create new joint warfighting constructs and doctrine. He also has served as deputy director of DARPA's Strategic Technology Office (STO) and from December 2021 to February 2022, served as acting director of STO. Prior to that, he was a program manager in the Microsystems Technology Office. His research interests include stealth aircraft, electronic warfare, weapons research, and cybersecurity.
Plaks retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2014, where he was the Air Force director for special programs. Prior to that, he commanded the Air Force's largest test squadron.
Plaks was the top academic graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1989 with bachelor's degrees in physics and mathematics. He was a Hertz Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and received a master's degree in physics in 1991. After a break for military service, he finished his doctorate in physics as a Hertz Fellow at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 2003.