Joseph Humire

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

SKILLS

ABOUT JOSEPH HUMIRE

Joseph M. Humire is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for the Western Hemisphere, overseeing U.S. defense and security policy for Canada, Mexico, Central America, South America, the Arctic, and the Caribbean. He is currently performing the duties of Assistant Secretary of War for Homeland Defense and Americas Security Affairs and previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense, advising on DoD\'s support to federal law enforcement and sealing the U.S. southwest border.Prior to joining the Pentagon\'s policy team, Mr. Humire was a leading national security and defense expert on the Western Hemisphere. He testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress, as well as the Canadian and European Parliaments, on counter-transnational organized crime, counterterrorism, border security, homeland and hemispheric defense, and developing strategies to deter and deny adversarial influence and narcoterrorism from growing in the Americas. Mr. Humire also served as an expert witness to important international terrorism trials in South America. From 2012 to 2025, Mr. Humire served as executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), a think tank he founded and led to become an industry leader in combating transregional threats in Latin America and the Caribbean. He was previously a Visiting Fellow at The Heritage Foundation\'s Allison Center for National Security and a Senior Fellow at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI), where he helped stand up AFPI\'s Western Hemisphere Initiative. Mr. Humire is an author who published his first book, Iran\'s Strategic Penetration of Latin America, in 2014 with Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, and is working on his second book, China\'s Strategic Encroachment of Latin America (forthcoming). In 2019, Mr. Humire wrote the foreword and a chapter in the last book by his late mentor, Dr. Max G. Manwaring, titled Confronting the Evolving Global Security Landscape, published by Praeger Security International. Mr. Humire is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, having served in Operation Iraqi Freedom, helping recover Marines Killed In Action from the battlefield to have a proper military burial. He graduated from George Mason University with a degree in Economics and Global Affairs. Mr. Humire\'s blend of military experience, economics education, and expertise in asymmetric warfare offers a unique perspective on Homeland Defense and Hemispheric Affairs, grounded in America First policy and in American values and leadership.