CDR Jeffrey Vanak

About

Commander Jeffrey Vanak, representing the U.S. Navy, is a National Security Affairs Fellow for the academic year 2020–21 at the Hoover Institution.

Commander Vanak is an intelligence officer who has served in multiple operational assignments that included deployments to Afghanistan, East Africa, Iraq, and embarked aboard USS Eisenhower (CVN 69).  His staff assignments include Special Operations Command, Chief of Naval Operations (CNO)-Intelligence Plot at the Pentagon, and the CNO Strategic Studies Group where he developed future Navy concepts for Human-Machine Teaming.  Most recently, he served at U.S. Pacific Fleet, providing intelligence and planning support focused on warfighting and Great Power Competition in the Indo-Pacific.

Commander Vanak graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 2005 with a degree in Economics and earned his master’s from the U.S. Naval War College in 2017, where he was named Honor Graduate.  In 2012, he was named the Office of Naval Intelligence Junior Officer of the Year.

As a fellow at Hoover, his research will focus on Great Power Competition in the Indo-Pacific with a focus on China.