Joseph Bouchard

Biography
Dr. Bouchard retired from the Navy in 2003 as a Captain after 27 years on active duty. He commanded the destroyer USS Oldendorf and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base.

Dr. Bouchard was a specialist in strategic and operational planning, including assignments as Branch Head, Strategy and Concepts Branch, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; Deputy Senior Director for Defense Policy and Arms Control, National Security Council, The White House; and Deputy Director, Navy Operations Group (Deep Blue), which was responsible for planning the Navy’s role in the war on terror. At the National Security Council, he was principal author of the National Security Strategy, 1997-1999. He received numerous personal decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the highest non-combat award in the US military.

Dr. Bouchard is widely recognized as an expert on national defense and homeland security, and has received several awards for his leadership in port security, including the Secretary of Defense 2002 Annual Antiterrorism Award, Secretary of Transportation 2002 Partnering for Excellence Award, Virginia Port Authority Medal of Excellence, and the Virginia Maritime Association Port Champion Award.

Dr. Bouchard graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he majored in International Security Affairs and studied Chinese and Japanese. He earned a Master of Arts degree in National Security Affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School and a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science (international relations and strategic studies) from Stanford University.

Dr. Bouchard is the author of Command in Crisis and numerous articles on defense, naval and homeland security matters. An accomplished naval historian, Dr. Bouchard was awarded the Captain Hugh Nott Memorial Award for exceptional articles published in the Naval War College Review in 1988 and the Rear Admiral Ernest M. Eller Prize in Naval History, awarded jointly by the Naval Historical Center and the Naval Historical Foundation, for the best article on naval history in 1999. He has made numerous appearances on radio and television speaking on various topics, including national defense, homeland security, naval history, and environmental policy, and appeared with Robert Ballard in a documentary on anti-submarine warfare operations in the Cold War shown on the National Geographic Channel.

Dr. Bouchard is heavily involved in state, regional and local activities in the areas of national security and economic development. He serves on the Commonwealth Security Panel, which advises the governor on homeland security and emergency preparedness, on the Board of Directors of the Hampton Roads Military and Federal Facilities Alliance. Dr. Bouchard Chairs the Hampton Roads Partnership’s Innovation Task Force, whose mission is to promote technology-based economic development in Hampton Roads, a component of implementing Vision Hampton Roads – the region’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Maritime Association and is a member of the Advisory Board for the Maritime Institute at Old Dominion University. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Tidewater Community College Education Foundation and on the Advisory Board for the Health Information Technology Consortium at Tidewater Community College.

Dr. Bouchard is recognized as an expert on the economic and national security aspects of environmental and climate change policy. He Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Green Jobs Alliance and serves on the Board of directors of the Virginia Conservation Network. He currently serves on the Virginia Beach Sustainability Plan Steering Committee and previouslty served on the Virginia Beach Alternative Energy Task Force, 2009–2010, and in 2008 served on the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change and chaired its Adaptation Working Group.

Political career
Dr. Bouchard represented the 83rd District in the Virginia House of Delegates in 2008-2009. He served on the Finance Committee, Science and Technology Committee, and the Agriculture, Chesapeake and Natural Resources Committee. He was the only member of the General Assembly who had commanded a military base in Virginia.