The United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC ( YOO-sə-sok)) is the command charged with overseeing the various special operations forces of the United States Army. Headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, it is the largest component of the United States Special Operations Command. It is an Army Service Component Command. Its mission is to organize, train, educate, man, equip, fund, administer, mobilize, deploy and sustain Army special operations forces to successfully conduct worldwide special operations.
Kenneth A. Minihan is a former United States Air Force lieutenant general who served as the director of the National Security Agency and the Defense Intelligence Agency, retiring on May 1, 1999.
The Naval War College is the staff college and "Home of Thought" for the United States Navy at Naval Station Newport in Newport, Rhode Island. The NWC educates and develops leaders, supports defining the future Navy and associated roles and missions, supports combat readiness, and strengthens global maritime partnerships.
The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California.
The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense aimed at facilitating high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As a chairman's Controlled Activity, NDU operates under the guidance of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), with Lieutenant General Michael T. Plehn, USAF, as president. It is located on the grounds of Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, D.C., near the White House and the US Congress.
John D. Altenburg Jr. is a lawyer for the U.S. Army and a retired major general. In December 2003, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld named Altenburg as the appointing authority for military commissions covering detainees at Guantanamo. He resigned, effective November 10, 2006.
The Joint Forces Staff College (JFSC), located in Norfolk, Virginia, was established as the Armed Forces Staff College in 1946 and incorporated into the National Defense University in August 1981. It educates and acculturates joint and multinational warfighters to plan and lead at the operational level. Military operations increasingly require the Armed Services to work jointly, and JFSC provides students the tools to operate in a joint environment. JFSC is composed of three schools, each with different student populations and purposes.
The Air War College (AWC) is the senior Professional Military Education (PME) school of the U.S. Air Force. A part of the United States Air Force's Air University, AWC emphasizes the employment of air, space, and cyberspace in joint operations. Headquartered at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama, its higher headquarters is the Air Education and Training Command (AETC) at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. It is one of six war colleges within the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) Phase II Education Program for commissioned officers.
The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, formerly known as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), is a part of the National Defense University. It was renamed on September 6, 2012, in honor of Dwight D. Eisenhower who graduated from this school when it was previously known as the Army Industrial College.
The Schar School of Policy and Government - SSPG, is the public policy school of George Mason University, a public research university in the Commonwealth of Virginia near Washington, D.C. Established as Northern Virginia's first public policy school with locations in Arlington and Fairfax County, the school's political science curriculum has a professional education and applied emphasis on public administration and national security at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, in addition to a traditional liberal arts education, while also maintaining an active role within all five major subfields of political science known as political philosophy, political methodology, comparative politics, international relations, public policy and public administration.
Michael George Vickers is an American defense official who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD-I). As USD-I, Vickers, who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010, was the Defense Department's top civilian military intelligence official. Before becoming USD-I, Vickers served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict.
Irregular warfare (IW) is defined in United States joint doctrine as "a violent struggle among state and non-state actors for legitimacy and influence over the relevant populations." In practice, control of institutions and infrastructure is also important. Concepts associated with irregular warfare are older than the term itself.
David A. Morris is an American major general (retired) who is the founder and owner of Decisive Edge, LLC, a consulting firm focused on the development of business strategies for the Special Operations and intelligence communities.
David William Barno is a retired lieutenant general of the United States Army. He was commander of Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005.
Patrick M. Hughes is a retired United States Army officer who served as the 12th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA). Previously, he was Director of Intelligence for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1994 to 1996 and the Director of Intelligence at United States Central Command from 1992 to 1994. He was the Commanding General, United States Army Intelligence Agency, and the Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence, U.S. Army from 1990 until 1992. He joined the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2003 as the Assistant Secretary for Information Analysis (Intelligence), and departed from DHS and Government service in March 2005.
The Marine Corps War College (MCWAR), is the senior school of the Marine Corps University, providing Joint Professional Military Education (JPME) to selected United States military officers, civilian Government officials, and international military officers. The college prepares officers for future senior command and staff responsibilities requiring exceptional operational competence, sound military judgment, and strategic thinking. The college is located within the Marine Corps University aboard Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia.
The Bush School of Government and Public Service is an undergraduate and graduate college of Texas A&M University founded in 1997 under former US President George H. W. Bush's philosophy that "public service is a noble calling." Since then, the Bush School has continued to reflect that notion in curriculum, research, and student experience and has become a leading international affairs, political science, and public affairs institution.
The National Intelligence University (NIU) is a federally chartered research university in Bethesda, Maryland operated by and for the United States Intelligence Community (IC) as its staff college of higher learning in fields of study central to the profession of intelligence and national security. A small, highly selective non-residential university, NIU awards undergraduate and graduate degrees, a graduate certificate, and prestigious research fellowships to prepare personnel for critical positions in the IC and the broader national security enterprise. Since 1963, more than 80,000 military and civilian students have attended the university. Originally located at Defense Intelligence Agency headquarters at Joint Base Anacostia–Bolling in Washington, D.C., NIU's primary campus is now located just up the Potomac River at Intelligence Community Campus-Bethesda (ICC-B) with four additional locations around the world.
Harry E. Miller Jr. is a retired Army National Guard officer. A veteran of the Iraq War, he attained the rank of major general as commander of the 42nd Infantry Division, a position he held from 2013 to 2017.
Major General Stephen E. Farmen was the 21st Commanding General of the U.S. Army Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command (SDDC), the Army Service Component Command to the U.S. Transportation Command and a Major Subordinate Command to U.S. Army Materiel Command. SDDC provides deployment and distribution capabilities to meet national objectives.
