James K. Hickey ^˘

James K. Hickey works with clients on their strategic approach to engaging Capitol Hill and federal agencies, with a particular focus on the U.S. Defense Department (DoD). A former U.S. Army officer, James draws on his military background to advise clients across the defense industrial base and national security-aligned organizations, including defense technology firms with drone and counter-drone verticals.

James’ practice spans three major focus areas – the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) advocacy, Congressional defense appropriations processes, and Pentagon integration strategies. As an advocate for the warfighter, James seeks to champion capabilities built for scale with the end user in mind.

Before moving into public affairs, James served as an Army officer after commissioning from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point into the Air Defense Artillery branch. He led teams in Iraq and Afghanistan focused on counter-rocket, artillery, and mortar operations, and as the drone threat evolved in theater, he was involved in implementing and integrating countermeasures against emerging enemy aerial tactics in combat. He also worked across the government to deploy air defense assets within the U.S. embassy in Baghdad and the broader diplomatic mission in Iraq. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for his efforts. James later served at Army Cyber Command, where he trained and deployed information operations field support teams across the globe before developing doctrine to poise the Army for transition from information operations toward information advantage.