Derek Harvey

Derek J. Harvey was the first Director of the Afghanistan-Pakistan Center of Excellence at U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and a retired United States Army Colonel. He was selected by General David Petraeus in 2009 to lead the new organization. Harvey is a Senior Executive Service-member of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and was the previous senior analytical specialist for Iraq to Petraeus, then Commander, Multi-National Forces-Iraq.

Iraq
Harvey retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel in 2006 after 26 years service as an intelligence officer and Middle East Foreign Area Officer. Prior to joining DIA as a civilian in early 2006, then Colonel Harvey was the Senior Analyst for Iraq, Joint Staff Directorate for Intelligence, from November 2004 to December 2005. Previously, he was Chief, Commander’s Assessments and Initiatives Group/Senior Intelligence Analyst for MNF-Iraq, and “Red Cell” Team Chief for CJTF-7 in Iraq. He also participated in the Joint Strategic Assessment Team established by Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus to assess the situation in Iraq and to develop their combined campaign plan. Mr. Harvey is credited by some sources for predicting the insurgency in Iraq, as well as the defeat of Al-Qaida in Iraq early 2007.