Hoover Institution Announces National Security Affairs Fellows

STANFORD—The Hoover Institution’s National Security Affairs Fellows (NSAFs) for the 2010–11 academic year have been announced by John Raisian, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution.

The NSAF program offers representatives of the U.S. military and government agencies the opportunity to conduct independent research on topics relevant to their respective branches of government and to the practice of diplomacy. Admission to the program is based on direct nominations from each governmental branch. Since the program began in 1969, more than 130 people have participated in it.

The program is administered by Hoover deputy director David Brady, Davies Family Senior Fellow, assisted by program coordinator Cheryl Weissbart.

The 2010–11 National Security Affairs Fellows are

Lieutenant Colonel Brenda Cartier, U.S. Air Force
Cartier holds a bachelor of arts degree in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz; a master of arts degree in special operations and low-intensity conflict from the American Military University, Virginia; and a master of arts degree in military operational art and science from the Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Alabama. She is a special operations navigator with more than four thousand flight hours in E-3 Airborne Warning and Control and AC-130U gunship aircraft. Most recently she commanded the 4th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida. Cartier has supported special operations in South and Central America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, as well as commanded special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Previously Cartier was deputy director, Commander's Action Group, and deputy director, Legislative Affairs for United States Special Operations Command, where she was involved in developing counterinsurgency/counterterrorism strategy for the global war on terror and negotiating congressional authorizations and appropriations in support of special operations worldwide. Her research will focus on the effect of geopolitical dynamics on U.S. policy in South Asia. Cartier is one of two officers representing the air force in the 2010–11 class.

Lieutenant Colonel Leif Eckholm, U.S. Air Force
Eckholm graduated with academic distinction from the United States Air Force Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. He holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a graduate degree in Middle East studies. He is also a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College, via distributed learning. His operational tours include flying KC-10 aerial refueling aircraft and commanding a C-21A DV Airlift Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. While serving at the Pentagon, Eckholm worked for the deputy undersecretary of the air force for international affairs, where he oversaw the portfolio of air force–to–air force programs between the United States and Iraq, Jordan, and Afghanistan. He is a command pilot with more than 4,200 hours in the C-21, KC-10, T-1A, and T-37 aircraft.

Lieutenant Colonel Joseph “JP” McGee, U.S. Army
A native of Atherton, California, McGee is a 1990 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and holds a master of science in administration from Central Michigan University. An infantry officer who has served extensively in both conventional and special operations units, he is an experienced counterterrorist and counterinsurgent. Since September 11, 2001, he has deployed seven times to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq—most recently for fourteen months as the commander of an infantry battalion in Samarra, Iraq. Before arriving at Hoover, McGee served as the deputy executive assistant to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Michael Mullen, and is slated to command the 1st Brigade Combat Team of the 101st ABN Division in the summer of 2011. His research will focus on development in postconflict environments.

Lieutenant Colonel Minter Ralston, U.S. Marine Corps
Ralston, an infantry officer, earned a bachelor of arts degree in history from Virginia Military Institute. He is a graduate of distance-learning programs from both the Expeditionary Warfare School and the Marine Corps Command and Staff College. His tours include command at the platoon, company, and battalion levels. Minter’s tours in the supporting establishment include serving as an instructor at the School of Infantry and as a faculty adviser at the Expeditionary Warfare School.

Commander David Slayton, U.S. Navy
Slayton earned his bachelor’s in research psychology and cognitive science from the University of California at Los Angeles and holds two master’s, one in business and global leadership from the University of San Diego, the other in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College. Slayton came to Hoover after his command tour with Electronic Attack Squadron 134. Throughout his career, he has deployed twelve times and participated in a broad range of combat operations on the ground, at sea, and in the air, conducting numerous combat missions into Afghanistan and Iraq in addition to coordinating precision kinetic and nonkinetic fires with ground- based task forces. A career naval flight officer, he has flown more than three hundred combat missions, accumulating more than 4,300 flight hours and 490 carrier-arrested landings in the EA-6B Prowler, S-3B Viking, and six other tactical aircraft. His research will focus on issues concerning the electromagnetic spectrum, maritime strategy and future energy sources, transmission, and infrastructure.