Career Timeline

From fighter pilot to strategic futurist – transforming defense through reinvention.

Key Achievements

Academic Excellence

  • Graduated first in class at U.S. Air Force Academy (1992)
  • Earned Master in Public Policy degree at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government
  • Graduate and Top Academic Instructor at the U.S. Air Force Weapons School
  • Graduated first in class at Air Command and Staff College (2005).
  • Stephen R. Lorenz Fellow at the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
  • Published Book: Centralized Control and Decentralized Execution, used for 15 years in the education of military officers.
  • Earned Ph.D. in Military Strategy
  • Military Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations

Operational Experience

  • Command pilot with 2,000+ flight hours
  • 240 combat hours in Operations Northern Watch and Southern Watch over Iraq
  • Flew the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F-117 Nighthawk “Stealth Fighter”
  • Led tactics development as Weapons School instructor
  • Strategic-attack planner in Operation Iraqi Freedom
  • Wrote the Air Operations Plan for “The Surge” in Iraq
  • Taught new pilots how to dogfight in jet fighters.
  • Commander of 8th Fighter Wing “Wolf Pack” in Korea.

Strategic Leadership

  • Served as the Air Force’s “Futurist” as Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, Integration, and Requirements
  • Served as acting Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
  • Led groundbreaking wargaming that revealed U.S. vulnerabilities and drove defense transformation
  • Developed multi-domain concepts, including the “Purple Wood-Chipper” (predecessor to Indo-Pacom’s “Hellscape”), the Air Force’s Future Operating Concept, and the Joint Warfighting Concept.

Complete Career History

YearPosition / AchievementOrganization
1992Commissioned as 2nd LieutenantU.S. Air Force Academy (graduated first in class, B.S. Space Physics)
1994Master of Public PolicyHarvard Kennedy School of Government
1994-2005Pilot Training & Operational Assignments in the F-16 and F-117Columbus AFB, Luke AFB, Shaw, AFB, Holloman AFB
2000sInstructorU.S. Air Force Weapons School
2009Published “Centralized Control and Decentralized Execution”Required reading for Air War College and Air Command and Staff College.
2013PhD in Military StrategyAir University, School of Advanced Air and Space Studies
2013-2014Commander, 8th Fighter Wing “Wolf Pack”Kunsan Air Base, Republic of Korea
2014-2015Military FellowCouncil on Foreign Relations
2015-2017Military Assistant to Deputy Secretary of DefenseOffice of the Secretary of Defense (served under Ash Carter and Bob Work during Third Offset Strategy)
2017-2018Deputy Chief, Office of Security Cooperation-IraqU.S. Embassy Baghdad (served as Deputy Chief of Mission when selected by Ambassador)
2018-2020Deputy Director, Air Force Warfighting Integration CapabilityHeadquarters Air Force
2020-2023Deputy Chief of Staff for Strategy, Integration, and Requirements (AF/A5/7)Headquarters Air Force – First leader of “Air Force Futures”
2023Retired as Lieutenant GeneralU.S. Air Force (35-year career)
2023-2025Commissioner Atlantic Council Commission on Software-Defined Warefare: Final report released March 25, 2025; served alongside former SecDef Mark Esper
2023-PresentProfessor of Policy AnalysisRAND School of Public Policy (Pardee RAND Graduate School)
2023-PresentPrincipalPallas Advisors
2023-PresentSenior AdvisorSpecial Competitive Studies Project (SCSP)
2023-PresentFounderHinote Strategy LLC
2023-PresentField-expertThe Dcode Group
2025-PresentExecutive Chair of Federal and Defense InitiativesLIST Technologies Inc.
2025-PresentOperating AdvisorBessemer Venture Partners
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