Mr. Lea brings more than 40 years of distinguished service in the public and private sectors, currently as a Board Member for the Center for Climate and Security, a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, and a Senior Advisor for Global Foresight Strategies.

Before retiring from Defense Intelligence Senior Level Federal service in March 2022, he served as the Principal Advisor to the Director of the National Maritime Intelligence-Integration Office (NMIO). In this position he represented the Director of National Intelligence on maritime issues as the unified voice of the Intelligence Community (IC), working to advance maritime intelligence integration, information sharing, and national-level Maritime Domain Awareness.

His thoughtful leadership included resourceful response during the COVID-19 pandemic, serving as the senior level advisor, thought leader and mentor for the Global Maritime Community of Interest, which includes the IC, Federal, State & Local Interagency, International, Industry, Academia, and NGOs.

During his tenure he led establishment of the Maritime Security Communications with Industry process, a streamlined approach for US Govt alerts to Industry on maritime security threats. As the IC Senior Representative on the White House Ocean Policy Committee, the Maritime SAFE Act Interagency Working Group, and the Maritime Domain Awareness Executive Steering Committee, he advised on priorities, requirements, and solutions to guide national strategy on a wide range of issues including Polar regions security, Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated fishing, maritime infrastructure resilience, energy security and climate change.

Mr. Lea holds a Master of Science in National Security Studies from the National War College, a Master of Arts in Public Administration from Fordham University, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Washington & Jefferson College. Upon graduation from college, he was commissioned through ROTC as a second lieutenant in the US Army Reserve. He has numerous awards from his assignments at the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the U.S. Army.