Rear Adm. David Goggins is a native of Los Angeles. He attended the University of California, Berkeley, and graduated in 1989 with a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Engineering and Material Science Engineering. His graduate education includes a Master of Science in Operations Research from the Naval Postgraduate School, and a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Goggins’ career in the Navy began as a submariner aboard USS Tecumseh (SSBN 628) where he served as an electrical officer, reactor controls assistant, and assistant operations officer.  He was then selected for lateral transfer to the Engineering Duty Officer Community and reported to the Supervisor of Shipbuilding, Conversion and Repair (SUPSHIP) in Groton, Connecticut.  At this command he was the lead ship coordinator for PCU Connecticut (SSN 22) from initial hull erect to the initial stages of Post-Shakedown Availability planning.

Subsequent shore duty tours included serving as assistant repair officer at Naval Submarine Support Facility in New London, Connecticut; Seawolf class project officer and program manager’s representative at SUPSHIP Groton; SSGN conversion project officer and program manager’s representative at SUPSHIP Groton; Virginia class assistant program manager for new construction within PEO Submarines; and a staff assignment within the Office of Chief of Naval Operations, Undersea Warfare Division (N97).
Goggins also served as an individual augmentee participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom.  While in Iraq, he supported the military’s counter-IED effort and was responsible for fielding over 3,000 mission critical systems to counter the rapidly evolving IED threat.

Goggins served as major program manager of the Virginia Class Program and the Columbia Class Program.  Under his leadership and guidance, the Virginia Program delivered three submarines to the fleet, started the initial design work on the Virginia Payload Module and Acoustic Superiority, and won the DoD Value Engineering Award and the David A. Packard Award for acquisition excellence.  As the Columbia program manager, the program completed milestone B, awarded the Detail Design and Construction Readiness Contract, and started prototyping efforts.

Goggins became program executive officer for submarines in August 2018.

His awards include the Legion of Merit (two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), the Navy Commendation Medal (two awards) and the Navy Achievement Medal (two awards).