Lieutenant Colonel Tony Shaffer is a combat hardened, bronze star recipient who is a CIA trained senior intelligence operations officer and reserve Army lieutenant colonel with more than 22 years of experience in the intelligence community.

He has been described by colleagues and friends as a cross between Tom Clancy’s character Jack Ryan and the X-Files character Fox Mulder, in looks, in disposition, and in action; he has served his entire career at the forefront of this country’s secret intelligence battles in cutting edge, often dangerous, assignments and leadership positions.

As the director of DIA Task Force STRATUS IVY, he lead this special mission unit in the conduct of some of the most daring and innovative Human Intelligence collection and information operations support projects ever undertaken by the Department of Defense, to include providing direct support to ABLE DANGER.

Many of these highly classified operations are still ongoing and continue to provide critical information on many of this nation’s most challenging adversaries.

During his tenure as director of STRATUS IVY he personally briefed the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) George Tenet on three separate occasions regarding his unit's activities. It must be noted it is highly unusual for a field operative to brief the DCI even once in his career, let alone three times.

During his recent 30 month recall to active duty for the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal (BSM) for the first of his two deployments to Afghanistan and is credited with playing a major role in breaking the back of a Taliban Offensive in the autumn of 2003. While in Afghanistan he also participated in an air assault with the 75th Ranger Regiment during WINTER STRIKE 03 to bring critical information and supplies to his HUMINT team located in a forward combat area with the Rangers in the Hindu Kush Mountains.

In addition to his Afghanistan military deployment, he has been deployed as a military officer to Germany, Thailand and New Zealand.

He is a 1986 graduate of Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio with a Bachelor of Arts degree, with a dual major in Political Science and Environmental Studies and is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha – the National Political Science Honor Society.