Lieutenant Colonel Brenda Cartier

About

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

Cartier holds a bachelor of arts degree in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz, a master of arts degree in special operations and low-intensity conflict from American Military University, Virginia, and a master of arts degree in military operational art and science from the Air Command and Staff College, Air University, Alabama. She is a special operations navigator with more than four thousand flight hours in E-3 Airborne Warning and Control and AC-130U gunship aircraft. Most recently she commanded the 4th Special Operations Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Florida. Cartier has supported special operations in South and Central America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, as well as commanded special operations forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Previously Cartier was deputy director, Commander's Action Group, and deputy director, Legislative Affairs for United States Special Operations Command, where she was involved in developing counterinsurgency/counterterrorism strategy for the global war on terror and negotiating congressional authorizations and appropriations in support of special operations worldwide. Her research will focus on the effect of geopolitical dynamics on US policy in South Asia. Cartier is one of two officers representing the air force in the 2010–11 class.