Joe Tomczak

Joe Tomczak is an active-duty Air Force special operations pilot serving at Headquarters Air Force. As a staff officer and strategist, he is responsible for long-range budget planning in the office of Plans and Programs (A8). Prior to the Pentagon, Joe served as the deputy director of the Strategic Initiatives Group at Headquarters Air Force Special Operations Command, where he aided the realignment of the organization’s policies and programs for strategic competition. Joe’s operational experience includes five combat deployments and more than 320 close air support missions in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. In 2019, he commanded the final AC-130U gunship deployment of the war in Afghanistan. Joe graduated with a B.S. in political science from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He is a graduate of the Air Force’s School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, a distinguished graduate of the Air Command and Staff College, and holds a Master of International Policy and Practice from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs.