Colonel Thomas Burke recently completed command of the 25th Combat Aviation Brigade in Hawaii and will spend this year at Brookings as a Chief of Staff of the Army Senior Fellow. Tom is also a Ph.D. candidate at The Fletcher School (Tufts University). During his Army Aviation career, Tom deployed twice to Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Division and once to Iraq. Other tours included: troop command in Korea; a military internship to the Secretary of Defense; and as a strategist for the Pakistan-Afghanistan Coordination Cell on the Joint Staff. Tom is married with three children (with a fourth due in November!).
Lieutenant Colonel Chesley Dycus received his commission from the U.S. Air Force Academy in May 2000. He is a mobility pilot (C-5, C-17 & KC-135) with world-wide operational experience, including service in support of Operations Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Prior to his current assignment, he served as the Acting Deputy National Security Advisor to the Vice President where he led a team of nine from across the Executive Branch in developing and executing the Vice President’s foreign policy priorities.
Shingo “Guri” Mizuiwa is a colonel in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. He is a fighter jet pilot (F-15, Japan). COL Mizuiwa’s assignments have included squadron command and staff officer duties at the Joint Staff Office, Air Staff Office, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the JSO, he was in charge of defense cooperation and exchange. At the MOFA, he was in charge of denuclearization of the former Soviet Union and of chemical weapons. COL Mizuiwa is currently interested in Artificial Intelligence for Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief. He has a degree in Astronomy from the National Defense Academy of Japan, and is married with two children.
Colonel Eric Reid is a career infantry officer. His operational assignments include deployments to the Pacific, Middle East, and Europe. He commanded 1st Battalion, 2d Marines. His staff assignments include duty as an Infantry Officer Course instructor; Marine Forces Central Command aide-de-camp; a congressional fellow; a NATO Afghanistan campaign planner; and Central Command’s Strategic Analysis Branch Chief. From 2017 to 2019, he served as a special assistant to the Secretary of Defense. He graduated with distinction from the Naval Academy with a degree in History in 1997 and holds master’s degrees from Boston University, Kansas State University. He was a 2016 National Security Affairs Fellow at the Hoover Institution.
Commander Jessica Worst served most recently at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in the Office of Budget and Programs. She was previously stationed aboard several cutters including CGC JUNIPER; CGC ALBACORE; CGC ALDER; and as Commanding Officer of CGC SEQUOIA in Guam. Other tours included Nautical Science Instructor at the Coast Guard Academy and Deputy Commander of International Ice Patrol. Commander Worst is from Ledyard, CT, and graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 2000 with a B.S. in Marine and Environmental Science. She later earned a M.S. in Oceanography while attending the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography.