SFC(R) John M. Peterson III, U.S. Army Special Forces, Retired Reserve

John Peterson is a former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier now serving as a contract instructor, government contractor, security specialist, and writer.

He is a combat veteran of the Global War on Terrorism which included service as a Special Forces soldier in Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan. His Army Special Forces service spanned continuously from 1988 to 2003, with service in 3 different Special Forces Groups both in the active duty (U.S. Army) and reserve components (Army National Guard)

Since then, he has served a number of times in the combat zones as a U.S. Government contractor in the intelligence sector as well as on SOF contracts here in the U.S.A. Prior to this, from 2003 to 2006, he served as a government civilian in a law enforcement agency of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

He is currently Special Projects Director and General Advisor to the International Association for Counterterrorism & Security Professionals (IACSP, appointed 1997) and Special Projects Director for the Counterterrorism & Security Education and Research Foundation.

He is a member of the Washington D.C. area think tank, the Council on Emerging National Security Affairs (CENSA)

He serves as an association representative to and on the advisory board of the Intelligence Community Associations Network (ICAN).

For the two consecutive years thru 2015, he served as an elected member of the board of directors of the OPSEC Professionals Society (OPS).

For 12 years, he served on the Advisory Council and as as presenter at the TREXPO / GovSec / CPM conference for law enforcement & government, presenting there 14 times since the 1990s through 2014.

He has presented 10 times and 2 times respectively at the 2 largest law enforcement conferences in North America, ITOA and ILEETA.

He has worked full time as a firearms & tactics instructor for the Smith & Wesson Academy, SigSauer Academy, and the federal government as a contract intelligence & SOF instructor.

He has over 10 years’ experience teaching thousands of personnel at all levels of law enforcement, military, government and the public sector.

Further, John also has experience as an antiterrorism and driving instructor, private investigator, executive protection specialist, intelligence role player, surveillance specialist, surveillance instructor, a