Mr. Drew Nickels

Drew Nickels is currently the Deputy Director of the Nuclear Materials Information Program (NMIP) within the Department of Energy’s Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence (DOE-IN). Previously, Mr. Nickels served two Secretaries of Energy as their executive intelligence briefer after serving seven years as an intelligence analyst with DOE-IN’s Foreign Nuclear Programs Division (FNP). Prior to working at DOE-IN, Mr. Nickels was a foreign affairs specialist for nine years with the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) in the Office of Nonproliferation and International Security (NA-24) focusing on 123 Agreements for Cooperation, CFR Part 810 issues, export control licensing, Chemical Weapons Convention compliance, and engagements with former WMD scientists from the Former Soviet Union, Libya, and Iraq through laboratory partnerships. In 2012, Mr. Nickels also served a brief rotation as a policy advisor on chemical security issues at the Department of Homeland Security Office of Policy, and in 2018, Mr. Nickels served as a foreign policy advisor through the Brookings LEGIS Fellowship Program for Congressman Joe Wilson of South Carolina.

Drew Nickels received a B.A. in International Studies and Economics from American University, a M.A. in Security Studies from Georgetown University, a MBA from the Citadel, and a M.A. in Defense and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College graduating with Distinction from its College of Naval Command and Staff.

Before starting at DOE, Mr. Nickels interned at the Department of State covering issues related to the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), the U.S. Mission to NATO serving the Defense Operations Division, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the White House’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and the Chemical and Biological Arms Control Institute (CBACI).