Lieutenant Colonel Leif Eckholm

About

Leif Eckholm, US Air Force, was a national security affairs fellow for 2010–2011 at the Hoover Institution.

Eckholm graduated with academic distinction from the United States Air Force Academy, the Naval Postgraduate School, and the Defense Language Institute in Monterey. He holds an undergraduate degree in mathematics and a graduate degree in Middle East studies. He is also a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and the Air War College, via distributed learning. His operational tours include flying KC-10 aerial refueling aircraft and commanding a C-21A DV Airlift Squadron at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland. While serving at the Pentagon, Eckholm worked for the deputy undersecretary of the air force for international affairs, where he oversaw the portfolio of air force–to–air force programs between the United States and Iraq, Jordan, and Afghanistan. He is a command pilot with more than 4,200 hours in the C-21, KC-10, T-1A, and T-37 aircraft.