Joe Costa is the director of the Forward Defense program of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council. Previously, Costa served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for plans and posture in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In this role, he served as the principal civilian advisor to the Department’s leadership for operational war planning and overseas force posture.  

Prior to this appointment, he served as acting principal director for Middle East policy, and special assistant in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Readiness. He has also served as a Rosenthal fellow on the US House Committee on Homeland Security. 

In addition to government service, Costa served as a vice president at The Cohen Group, a global strategic advisory firm, and a researcher at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs.  

He is an adjunct senior international defense researcher at RAND, a Truman National Security Fellow, and the recipient of Secretary of Defense awards for exceptional and outstanding public service. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago and George Washington University.