Lt. Col. Patrick Gaynor

About

Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Gaynor, representing the United States Space Force, is a national security affairs fellow for the academic year 2025–26 at the Hoover Institution. He is a career space operations officer with experience in spacecraft operations, intelligence collection, orbital warfare, and command and control. Before attending the Hoover Institution, Lt. Col. Gaynor was the lead for future operating concepts, where he helped build a new field command, Space Force Futures Command, and designed and executed a process to develop future service concepts.

Lt. Col. Gaynor entered the Air Force in June 2005 as a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy. His career has included positions in US Cyber Command and the National Reconnaissance Office. He served as the commander’s speechwriter at Air Force Space Command and helped shape a national narrative that space is a warfighting domain in which the US military needs dedicated professionals to protect American and allied interests. His command experience was acquired while serving as the commander of the 1st Space Operations Squadron and later as vice commander of Combat Delta 15.