Army Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn is director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, having succeeded Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess in July to become the agency’s 18th director and assume leadership of 16,000 professionals.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta nominated Flynn to lead the DIA in April after serving as assistant director of national intelligence for partner engagement since 2001.
Flynn has also served in director of intelligence posts at the Joint Staff; U.S. Central Command with duty in Afghanistan and Iraq; Joint Special Operations Command with duty in Afghanistan and Iraq; International Security Assistance Force-Afghanistan; and U.S. Forces-Afghanistan.
Other command and staff positions include commander of the 313th Military Intelligence Battalion and G2, 82nd Airborne Division; G2, 18th Airborne Corps, CJ2, CJTF-180 in Afghanistan; and commander of the 111th Military Intelligence Brigade at the Army’s Intelligence Center at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.
Flynn has served multiple tours at Fort Bragg, N.C. where he deployed with the 82nd Airborne Division as a platoon leader in Grenada and as chief of joint war plans for JTF-180 in Haiti.
He also served with the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii and as the senior observer and controller for Intelligence at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La.
Flynn holds an undergraduate degree in management science from the University of Rhode Island and holds three graduate degrees: an M.B.A. in telecommunications from Golden Gate University, San Francisco; a master’s degree in military arts and sciences from Fort Leavenworth, Kan.; and a master’s of in national security and strategic studies from the Naval War College.
He also holds an honorary doctorate of laws from the Institute of World Politics in Washington.
Flynn is also a graduate of the Army’s Intelligence Officer basic, advanced, and electronic warfare courses; the Combined Armed Services Staff Course; the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College and School of Advanced Military Studies; and the U.S. Naval War College.
He is a recipient of the Defense Superior Service Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with Silver Oak Leaf Cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with 4 Oak Leaf Clusters, the NATO Service Medal, the Ranger Tab and Master Parachutist Badge and the Joint Staff Identification Badge.