Dr. Joseph Felter has been appointed as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for South and Southeast Asia. Joseph Felter is a former U.S. Army Special Forces Officer and Foreign Area Officer (retired O-6). His past military service includes time as the head of the West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center (CTC) and the commander of the Counterinsurgency Advisory and Assistance Team (CAAT) in Afghanistan. His new position is considered within the Senior Executive Service of the Department of Defense.
Joseph Felter was recently the Director of the Hacking for Defense Project at Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation, co-director of the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project, and research fellow at the Hoover Institution.
His SOF time was with 1st Special Forces Group (1992-1996) as a team leader and later as a company commander. He did a tour with the 75th Ranger Regiment as a platoon leader (1989-1991). He also, as part of the 75th Ranger Regiment, did a tour in support of a Joint Special Operations Task Force in Iraq (2008).
Felter has strong academic credentials. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy (1987), has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government (1998) in conflict resolution, and a Ph.D. from Stanford University (2005) in political science.
Informational Resources:
Senior Executive Service Announcements, DoD Press Release No: NR-263-17, July 12, 2017.
Curriculum Vitae, Joseph Felter, Stanford University, 2013.
https://fsi.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/staff/4070/Joseph_Felter-CV.pdf
Biography, Joseph Felter, Standford University
https://ips.stanford.edu/people/joseph-felter
Colonel Joseph (Joe) Felter (Ret), Research Fellow Hoover Institution
www.hoover.org/profiles/colonel-joseph-joe-felter-ret
“SecDef Mattis to Tap Former Army FAO for DASD South Asia”, Breaking Defense, April 3, 2017.
