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ABOUT OCTANT ASSOCIATES

Octant Associates LLC is a small, woman-owned business operating out of northern Virginia in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. Within Octant, we have assembled leading specialists in core security realms, including in policy-related WMD, cybersecurity, and counterterrorism, as well as in technology integration, systems engineering, and data analysis.

 

Each member of our core group leverages expertise in his/her field(s), but also in regional knowledge, language skills, business acumen, or related specialties. Within our team, we possess language and cultural fluency in Russian, German, French, and Arabic, along with years of experience operating internationally. Most members of our team possess active security clearances.

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Finally, as a woman-owned small business, we take great pride in making it part of our mission to bring high-level professional opportunities to young women entering a career in national security policy, a non-traditional - and somewhat difficult - career path for young women to pursue.

Expertise (Subject Matter Areas)

Octant Associates principals possess a deep level of expertise in the national security arena, developed over multiple decades working in executive and legislative branch positions as well as in private industry and the nonprofit/academic sector, with a particular focus in the following segments:

 

  • WMD policy: nonproliferation, counterproliferation

  • Nuclear security and nuclear deterrence

  • Nuclear energy policy

  • Cooperative threat reduction

  • Defense planning

  • Counterterrorism

  • Cybersecurity

  • Border security

Client List (Select)

The list below includes current Octant Associates clients, current and former clients served by Octant principals in previous positions, and select former employers of Octant principals.

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Private Sector

  • Booz Allen Hamilton

  • Science Applications International Corp.

  • Culmen International

  • TENAM LLC

 

Departments and Agencies

  • Office of the Secretary of Defense

  • OUSD/ATL (Nuclear Matters) and (Treaty Compliance)

  • Defense Threat Reduction Agency

  • Defense Intelligence Agency

  • HQ US Air Force (A10 Strategic Deterrence and Nuclear Integration, A5 Strategic Plan and Policy Division) and Major Commands

  • HQ US Army (G3/7 CWMD and Proliferation Policy Division)

  • Unified Combatant Commands

  • Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration

  • Department of State, International Security and Nonproliferation Bureau

  • Department of Homeland Security, Domestic Nuclear Detection Office

 

Nonprofit, Foundation & Academic

  • Stanley Foundation

  • Henry L. Stimson Center

  • Federation of American Scientists

  • Institute for Defense Analyses

  • Sandia National Laboratories

 

United States Congress

  • Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) (4)

  • Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN)

  • Senator Sam Brownback (R-KS)

Capabilities (Functional Areas)

While we have assembled a core team of leading subject area specialists, no Octant member is a single-talent individual. Each member leverages expertise in his/her field(s), but also in regional knowledge, language skills, business acumen, and related specialties. And each member draws upon a network of linked affiliates who can be swiftly added to the team to augment capabilities when and as needed.

 

Strategic planning

  • Trends analysis/forecasting 

  • Policy/program interface

  • Programming, planning and analysis

  • Environmental scans/SWOT analysis 

  • External/internal stakeholder engagement

  • Research and analysis

 

Operational planning

  • Program management

  • Requirements definition

  • Performance measurement/management

  • Process improvement

  • Program evaluation

  • Dashboards for managers and executives

  • Management tools

  • Data visualization

 

Strategic Communications

  • Interagency process/dynamics

  • Legislative outreach

  • External assessments

  • Stakeholder engagement

  • Data analysis, analytics and presentation

 

Conference support

  • Conceptualizing and Framing Complex Topics

  • Agenda shaping and formulation 

  • Participant Identification

  • Facilitation

 

Business development and program execution:

  • Program management

  • Proposal development, writing and color reviews

  • Competition and price to win analysis

  • Responsive and agile team member

octant - three definitions 512.jpg

We selected Octant as the name of our company because each of its distinct definitions has a relation to our work.

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1. The eighth part of a circle, often applied to the directions as indicated on a compass rose (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW).

 

2. An instrument having an arc of 24°, used by navigators for measuring angles up to 90°.

 

3. Any of the eight parts into which three mutually perpendicular planes divide space.

 

Navigating complex problems and issues, providing guidance and direction to clients, recognizing the multidimensionality of the challenges in national security, and the multidimensionality of the solutions thereto.

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