Biography

Colonel David Pedersen retired with more than 32 years of service in the U.S. Air Force skilled in international diplomacy and national security policy making and able to articulate complex air, space and cyber issues to senior international leaders. He has more than 2,500 hours flying the F-16 fighter and has instructed pilots from around the world. His operational mindset is a unique skill to analysis and problem solving. Colonel Pedersen graduated with distinction from Embry Riddle Aeronautical University with an Aeronautical Engineering degree. During his first operational assignment he served on the planning staff in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War. Colonel Pedersen was an F-16 instructor and flight commander at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea. He later served as the Director of Operations for the Republic of Singapore Air Force F- 16 Fighter Squadron at Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico. In 2004, the Colonel was the Commander of the Egyptian Peace Vector II program to train F-16 pilots at Beni Suef Air Base in Egypt and advise the Egyptian Air Force on fighter training, maintenance and logistics. He was then assigned as the 56th Operations Group Deputy Commander training F-16 pilots at the largest Operations Group in the U.S. Air Force. The Colonel graduated with distinction from the Naval War College in 2008 with a Master of Science degree in National Security and Strategic Studies. On the USAF staff, he served on the 4-Star Air Combat Commander’s special action group as a strategic concept analyst and as legislative liaison to prepare the commander for testimony on Capitol Hill. Colonel Pedersen also served as the Director of Staff and Senior National Representative for the NATO Joint Air Power Competence Center in Kalkar, Germany; NATO’s first Center of Excellence dealing with Strategic and Operational Air & Space Power research and provided advice to the Alliance and member nations. Culminating a broad career, Colonel Pedersen was selected as the U.S. Air Attaché to Germany and he served as a diplomat for over three years in Berlin where he advised the U.S. Ambassador and senior military leaders on political issues and national security policies. Today Colonel (Ret.) Pedersen lives in Berlin with his family and maintains strong international relationships in both government and within the military.