Lt. General Michael K. Nagata, Retired

Former Director of Strategic Operational Planning for the National Counterterrorism Center Lt. Gen. Michael K. Nagata, U.S. Army (Ret.) is the Strategic Advisor & Senior Vice President for CACI International Inc, and the owner of Hanada Bridge, LLC. He retired from the U.S. Army in 2019 after 38 years on Active Duty, serving 34 years in Army Special Forces. His final government position was Director of Strategic Operational Planning for the National Counterterrorism Center from 2016 to 2019. Lt. Gen. Nagata graduated from Georgia State University, and first enlisted in the Army as a private in the infantry. He later earned his commission as an Infantry Officer in 1982 from the Army Officer Candidate School. As an officer, he served as a Platoon Leader in the 2nd Infantry Division before volunteering for Army Special Forces in 1984. In Special Forces, he served in a variety of command and staff positions, and in 1990, he was selected for a Special Mission Unit, deploying for both contingency and combat operations. From 1999 to 2000, he commanded the Army's Special Forces Qualification Course. In 2000, he returned to a Special Mission Unit as a Squadron Commander, and later was involved in the initial combat deployments after the 9/11 attacks. After graduating from the National War College in 2003, Lt. Gen. Nagata served two years in the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. From 2005 to 2008, as a Special Mission Unit commander, he led multiple Joint Special Operations Forces (SOF) task forces across more than a dozen countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. He then served in the Intelligence Community in Washington, D.C. as a Military Deputy for Counterterrorism until 2009. He deployed again until late 2011 to Pakistan as the Deputy Chief, Office of the Defense Representative at the U.S. Embassy. Upon returning to the U.S., he served on the Joint Staff as the Deputy Director for Special Operations and Counterterrorism until 2013. Lt. Gen. Nagata then assumed command of U.S. Special Operation Command Central (SOCCENT) and was responsible for special operations across the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) region from 2013 to 2015. He was heavily involved in the first two years of combat operations against the Islamic State in Iraq, Syria, and elsewhere. Lt. Gen. Nagata is a graduate of the Infantry Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, the Special Forces Qualification Course, the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and the National War College.