Colonel Bryan H. Cannady is currently serving as the U.S. Air Force Fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies following a two-year tour on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, J-3 Operations, deputy director of special operations and counterterrorism. He is a special operations officer with extensive experience in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Indonesia, and Philippines. Colonel Cannady has commanded Special Tactics forces at the flight and squadron level employing combat control, tactical air control party, pararescue, special operations weather, and combat support personnel to conduct special operations missions in multiple theaters of operation. These elite forces provide control of the air/ground interface, personnel recovery, terminal attack control, and combat weather operations for sensitive, low-visibility, and clandestine missions.

Colonel Cannady received his commission in 1994 through the University of Virginia’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFROTC) program. He entered the combat control training pipeline in 1995, where he acquired skills as a senior parachutist, military freefall parachutist, and combat diver. He commanded Special Tactics forces on combat missions during Operations PROVIDE COMFORT, DESERT THUNDER, ENDURING FREEDOM, ENDURING FREEDOM Philippines, and IRAQI FREEDOM—completing one combat-airborne jump.

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