After more than three decades in federal service, national security and infrastructure policy leader David (Dave) Wulf has launched a new strategic advisory firm, CrossStar Strategies.
Wulf, who recently served as Deputy Superintendent of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, founded the Washington, D.C.-based firm to help organizations navigate complex policy, regulatory, and operational environments while strengthening engagement with the federal government.
CrossStar Strategies focuses on issues tied to critical infrastructure, regulatory policy, and public-private collaboration. According to Wulf, the firm is already working with clients across sectors including energy, chemicals, maritime, and the alcohol-beverage industry on strategic advisory matters.
The new venture builds on Wulf’s extensive government career, which included leadership roles across multiple federal agencies. Most recently, he served from 2023 to 2025 as Deputy Superintendent at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, where he helped oversee the institution’s operations and worked on initiatives including an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to modernize the campus.
Before that, Wulf served as Deputy Administrator of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau at the U.S. Department of the Treasury from 2021 to 2023. In that role, he oversaw federal regulation of the alcohol and tobacco industries, including enforcement, compliance, and the collection of roughly $20 billion in annual taxes.
Earlier in his career, Wulf spent nearly a decade at the Department of Homeland Security, including as Director of the Office of Chemical Security and as Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Infrastructure Protection. During that time, he led efforts tied to the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards program and worked with industry and government partners across all 16 critical infrastructure sectors.
His federal service also included leadership roles at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, where he established and led the National Center for Explosives Training and Research, as well as legal roles at ATF and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Across his career, Wulf has worked on issues ranging from explosives investigations and chemical security to disaster response coordination and international chemical security cooperation. He has testified before Congress numerous times and represented the United States in international forums focused on infrastructure protection.
With CrossStar Strategies, Wulf says he aims to bring that “inside-the-room” perspective to organizations working at the intersection of policy, infrastructure, and national security.
In parallel with the firm’s launch, Wulf is also collaborating on a forthcoming nonprofit initiative aimed at strengthening cross-sector resilience and improving engagement between government policymakers and infrastructure owners and operators.
(AI was used in part to facilitate this article.)
