James B. Skinner is a Senior Vice President at American Global Strategies (AGS), an international strategic advisory firm. He was previously a Vice President and Chief of Staff at AGS and has been with the firm since its founding in 2021. Mr. Skinner focuses on the technology, private equity, aerospace, and defense sectors.
Before joining AGS, Mr. Skinner served on the White House National Security Council (NSC) as Special Assistant to the U.S. National Security Advisor (NSA) from 2019 – 2021. He worked closely with the White House Situation Room to review and prioritize national security documents, intelligence reports, and other sensitive communications to prepare the NSA, Deputy NSA, and Chief of Staff of the NSC for meetings with domestic and foreign counterparts. During this time, Mr. Skinner traveled on several Presidential Missions with the NSA across the Middle East, Asia, Europe, South America, Indo-Pacific, and throughout the United States.
Earlier, Mr. Skinner was a Presidential Appointee at the U.S. Department of Defense and Policy Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics & Global Threats. In this capacity, he focused on counter threat finance and counter transnational organized crime policies, targeting networks and individuals involved in human trafficking, narcotics trafficking, weapons trafficking, money laundering and intellectual property theft. Mr. Skinner led the CTF Information Technology Task Force and was appointed to serve on the Counterterrorism Interagency Finance Cell and Iran Finance Fusion Cell at the Pentagon.
Mr. Skinner previously held positions at the U.S. Department of Defense as Advisor to the White House Liaison and Defense Fellow in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. He formerly served as a White House Intern in the Executive Office of the President.
Mr. Skinner, a 2023 recipient of the NextGen Leadership Award for Policy & Public Service, is a Fellow in National Security Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council (AFPC); a 2025 National Security Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD); a Term Member of the Council on Foreign Relations; on the Community Board of Advisors at The Knudsen Institute for Applied Research on Surge Theory, a research institution focused on the U.S. defense industrial base; the Policy Committee for the Oklahoma Defense Industry Association (ODIA); and is a member of the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). Mr. Skinner has served on an Advisory Committee for the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition; the Council of Advisors of the State Chamber of Oklahoma; and was a Founding Member of Oklahoma City Business Leaders for Good.
Mr. Skinner holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, cum laude, from the University of Missouri.