Victor H. Reis

Who is Victor H. Reis?

Victor H. Reis is a technologist and former U.S. government official, best known as the architect and original sponsor of the U.S. nuclear Stockpile Stewardship Program and its associated Accelerated Strategic Computing Initiative, which resulted in the creation of several new generations of government-sponsored supercomputers.

Reis graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a B.S. degree in 1957. He earned an M.S. at Yale University in 1958 and a Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1962. From 1973 to 1981, Reis was a technical staff member at MIT's Lincoln Laboratory.

Reis was Assistant Director for National Security and Space in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Executive Office of the President, 1981-1983. Leaving government, he became senior vice president for strategic planning at the Science Applications International Corp., 1983-1989. He returned briefly to Lincoln Laboratory in 1989 as special assistant to the director, then returned to government as, first, Deputy Director of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, 1989–1990; then that agency's Director, 1990–1991; and subsequently Director of Defense Research and Engineering at the U.S. Department of Defense, where he succeeded Charles M. Herzfeld and served until 1993, when he was succeeded by Anita K. Jones.