Colonel Todd A. Schmidt, Ph.D., currently serves as the Director (J5) for Plans, Policy, and Allied Integration in the Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. Prior to taking this position, he completed Senior Service College as a Goodpaster Fellow in the Army's Advanced Strategic Planning and Policy Program (ASP3). During this time, he attended the University of Kansas completing a Ph.D. in International Relations. His dissertation investigates the influence of military elites on national security policy and is currently under review for publication as a book. He served multiple tours throughout Central Command's area of responsibility, including Afghanistan, Qatar, and Kuwait with duties and responsibilities extending to Bahrain and UAE. As a staff officer, COL Schmidt served in the Pentagon on the immediate staff of the Secretary of Defense; as a strategic planner in the Army staff's Budget Initiatives Group; and in the Office of the Chief of Staff, Army. He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Indiana University, Indiana Governor's Fellow, Council of Foreign Relations Term-member Alumni, and holds Master's degrees from Georgetown University (MPA '05) and the School of Advanced Military Studies (MMAS '12).