Michael T. Flynn

Michael T. Flynn is a United States Army Lieutenant general  and, since July 24, 2012, has served as the current Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, Commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (JFCC-ISR), and chair of the Military Intelligence Board. Prior to this he served as Assistant Director of National intelligence. He has consistently pushed for greater information and intelligence sharing and has been a leading figure in coalition and special operations intelligence operations. Flynn published an "extraordinary" report in JAN 2010 on "Fixing Intelligence in Afghanistan", a report that took to task the intelligence community for lacking an understanding of the human-socio context of the battlefield in Afghanistan. Flynn's career has been primarily operational serving in numerous combat arms conventional and special operations senior intelligence assignments. Flynn also served as the Senior intelligence officer for JSOC where he was credited with creating innovative techniques for interrogation operations and ops-intel fusion leading to major breakthroughs in counterterrorism operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere against Al Qaeda and its Associated Movements. Flynn is widely published author with articles appearing in Infantry Journal, Small Wars Journal, Joint Forces Quarterly, the Center for New American Strategy, and various Military Intelligence publications.

Education
Flynn graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Science degree in management science in 1981 and was commissioned through Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps. He also holds three masters degrees and an honorary doctorate.

Career
Flynn's assignments have included multiple tours at Fort Bragg, North Carolina with the 82d Airborne Division, XVIII Airborne Corps, and Joint Special Operations Command, where he deployed for Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada and Operation Uphold Democracy in Haiti. He also has served with the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, and the Army Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona.

Flynn commanded the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade from June 2002 to June 2004. He served as the Assistant Chief of Staff, G2, XVIII Airborne Corps at Fort Bragg, North Carolina from June 2001 and the Director of Intelligence, Joint Task Force 180 in Afghanistan until July 2002.

Flynn served as the Director of Intelligence, Joint Staff from July 11, 2008 to June 14, 2009, then the Director of Intelligence, International Security Assistance Forces in Afghanistan from June 2009 to October 2010. He also served as the Director of Intelligence, United States Central Command from June 2007 to July 2008, and the Director of Intelligence for Joint Special Operations Command from July 2004 to June 2007, with service in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) and Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom).

Flynn is a graduate of the Military Intelligence Officer Basic Course, Military Intelligence Officer Advanced Course, Army Command and General Staff College, the School of Advanced Military Studies, and Naval War College. He earned a Master of Business Administration in telecommunications from Golden Gate University, a Master of Military Art and Science from the United States Army Command and General Staff College, a Master of Arts in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College and an honorary doctorate from the Institute of World Politics in Washington, DC.

Office of the Director of National Intelligence
In September 2011, numerous media outlets reported on LTG Flynn's promotion to LTG and assignment to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. His duties include public, private, and international outreach and engagement. Flynn's influence throughout the intelligence community is primarily with operational units across all the services, especially in the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance arenas as well as the information technology and organizational design.

Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency
On April 17, 2012 President Barack Obama nominated LTG Flynn to be the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. LTG Flynn took command of DIA on July 24, 2012. In October 2012, LTG Flynn announced plans to release his Vision 2020 blueprint, a broad look at everything DIA does and should do in the future.

Awards
Flynn has been awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), Legion of Merit (with oak leaf cluster), Bronze Star Medal (with three oak leaf cluster), Meritorious Service Medal (with five oak leaf cluster), Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal (with five oak leaf cluster), and several service and campaign medals. Flynn has also earned the Ranger Tab, Master Parachutist Badge, and Joint Staff Identification Badge.