BRIGADIER GENERAL MICHAEL L. CORNELL
Brig. Gen. Michael Cornell is the Vice Director, Joint Service Provider (JSP), Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia. As Vice Director, he is DISA’s senior military officer at the Pentagon and assists the Director in leading 2,500 uniformed, civilian, and contractor personnel across six JSP centers that operate and defend key Department of Defense (DoD) cyber terrain. In support of the Director, General Cornell manages the JSP’s infrastructure portfolio valued at over $1 billion to provide daily information technology and cybersecurity services to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, Headquarters Department of the Army, and all other DoD component offices within the National Capital Region.General Cornell received his commission in 1992 as a Distinguished Graduate of AFROTC Detachment 115 at the University of Connecticut, where he finished first in his cadet class. He is a career intelligence officer and cyber professional with conventional and special operations experience at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels during more than 20 contingencies spanning five combatant commands. He earned his jump wings at U.S. Army Airborne School in 1991.His expeditionary experience includes a year along the Korean demilitarized zone (DMZ) in a Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) unit with 2nd Infantry Division, multiple deployments to the Persian Gulf, and joint duty in Afghanistan with 10th Mountain Division, NATO, and an interagency Afghan presidential security detail led by the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service. On the morning of September 11, 2001, he participated in NORAD’s scramble of the first military aircraft to the World Trade Center and mobilized for Operation NOBLE EAGLE.
In 2002, the Department of Justice cited his published work on weapons of mass destruction in a legal opinion to the President concerning the authority to use military force in Iraq. In 2007, 1st Air Force named him its Field Grade Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance (ISR) Officer of the Year. In 2021, the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) recognized elements of a unit under then-Colonel Cornell’s command for contributions to securing the 2020 U.S. elections from adversary influence operations. Past assignments include command of a SIGINT site that enables global cyber operations by NSA, USCYBERCOM, and 16th Air Force; staff duty as J2 of the Massachusetts National Guard; deputy commander of an aviation Joint Task Force (JTF) at the Boston Marathon; National Guard liaison to MIT Lincoln Laboratory; ISR Division Chief at a STRATCOM-aligned Air Operations Center; staff duty at HQ Air Combat Command; and unit-level operations in multiple fighter squadrons. As an instructor-rated AN/GSQ-272 SENTINEL crewmember and Director of Operations, he led ISR and targeting support to conventional and special operations forces that killed or captured 115 high-value targets in Operations ENDURING FREEDOM, IRAQI FREEDOM, and ODYSSEY DAWN. Prior to his current position, the General was the Chief of Staff, 102d Intelligence Wing, Otis Air National Guard Base, Massachusetts.
EDUCATION
1992 Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, University of Connecticut, Storrs
1994 Air Support Operations Center Orientation, U.S. Air Force Air-To-Ground Operations School, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
1994 Asia-Pacific Orientation Course, U.S. Air Force Special Operations School, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
1996 Dynamics of International Terrorism Course, U.S. Air Force Special Operations School, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
1996 National Intelligence Course, Joint Military Intelligence Training Center, Defense Intelligence Agency, Bolling Air Force Base (AFB), Washington, D.C.
1997 F-15C Intelligence Formal Training Unit Course, 33rd Fighter Wing, Tyndall AFB, Fla.
2001 Juris Doctor, University of Connecticut School of Law, Hartford
2002 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala., by correspondence
2010 Air National Guard (ANG) Intermediate Development Course, Joint Base Andrews, Md.
2012 Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala., by correspondence
2013 Joint Air & Space Operations Senior Staff Course, U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
2014 U.S. Air Force Cyber Operations Fundamentals Course, by correspondence
2015 NGB J2 Joint Incident Awareness & Assessment Team Course, Army Regional Training Institute, Camp Edwards, Mass.
2015 U.S. NORTHCOM Joint Task Force Commander Training Course (JCTC), HQ NORTHCOM, Peterson AFB, Colo.
2016 Executive Leadership Cybersecurity Course, Center for Infrastructure Assurance & Security, University of Texas, San Antonio
2018 NSA Executive SIGINT Orientation Seminar, National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, Md.
2020 Joint & Combined Warfighter School-Hybrid (JCWS-H) (JPME II), Joint Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va.
2021 National & International Security Leadership Seminar, Alan L. Freed Associates, Capitol Hill Club, Washington, D.C.
2023 Senior Leader Orientation Course, Joint Base Andrews, Md.
2024 National Security Studies Management Course, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, N.Y.
ASSIGNMENTS
1. September 1992 - July 1993, Student, U.S. Air Force Intelligence Officer Course, 17th Training Wing, Goodfellow Air Force Base (AFB), Texas
2. July 1993 - September 1994, Executive Officer, 315th Technical Training Squadron, Goodfellow AFB, Texas
3. September 1994 - September 1995, Intelligence Flight Commander, 604th Air Support Operations Center Squadron (ASOCS) (attached to 2nd Infantry Division), Camp Red Cloud, Republic of Korea
4. September 1995 - June 1996, Asia-Pacific Politico-Military Analyst, HQ Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Va.
5. June 1996 - September 1997, Command Politico-Military Affairs Officer, HQ Air Combat Command, Langley AFB, Va.
6. September 1997 - October 1998, Chief of Squadron Intelligence, 27th Fighter Squadron, Langley AFB, Va.
7. October 1998 - September 2001, Squadron Intelligence Officer, 102d Operations Support Flight, Otis ANG Base, Mass.
8. September 2001 - April 2002, Chief of Intel Ops, 101st Fighter Squadron, Otis ANG Base, Mass. (Operation NOBLE EAGLE)
9. April 2002 - August 2005, Intelligence Operations Officer, 102d Operations Support Flight, Otis ANG Base, Mass.
10. May 2003 - September 2003, ISR Liaison Officer, Combined Joint Task Force 180 (CJTF-180) Joint Air Component Coordination Element (JACCE), Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan
11. August 2005 - August 2006, Senior Intelligence Officer, 102d Fighter Wing, Otis ANG Base, Mass.
12. August 2006 - August 2007, Intelligence Officer, 101st Fighter Squadron (unit in conversion), Otis ANG Base, Mass.
13. August 2007 - December 2010, Flight Commander, 101st Intelligence Squadron (DGS-MA), Otis ANG Base, Mass.
14. December 2010 - December 2012, Director of Operations, 101st Intelligence Squadron (DGS-MA), Otis ANG Base, Mass.
15. December 2012 - January 2016, dual-hatted as Commander, 102d Air Intelligence Squadron & ISR Division Chief, 102d Air Operations Center (Air Force Global Strike Command/U.S. Strategic Command), Otis ANG Base, Mass.
16. January 2016 - February 2018, dual-hatted as Director of Intelligence Plans & Programs (A2) & Director, Joint Intelligence (J2), Massachusetts National Guard, Joint Force Headquarters Massachusetts, Hanscom AFB, Mass.
17. February 2018 - May 2021, Commander, 202d Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance Group, Otis ANGB, Mass.
18. May 2021 - May 2022, Chief of Staff, 102d Intelligence Wing, Otis ANGB, Mass.
19. May 2022 - Present, Vice Director, Joint Service Provider, DISA, Pentagon, Arlington, Va.
SUMMARY OF JOINT ASSIGNMENTS
1. May 2003 - September 2003, ISR Liaison Officer, Combined Joint Task Force 180 (CJTF-180) Joint Air Component Coordination Element (JACCE), Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan as a major
2. February 2018 - May 2021, Commander, 202d Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance Group, Otis ANGB, Mass. as a colonel
3. May 2022 - Present, Vice Director, Joint Service Provider, DISA, Pentagon, Arlington, Va. as a brigadier general
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Joint Service Commendation Medal
Air and Space Commendation Medal with four oak leaf clusters
Air and Space Achievement Medal
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION
General Cornell is an attorney with over 20 years of practice as both a litigator at a national law firm and as a bank regulator for the U.S. Government. He specializes in financial litigation, complex fraud investigations, consumer protection, and financial technology.
OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS
1st Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do, Uijongbu, Republic of Korea (1995)
Panelist, “International Law and Human Rights" (Young Scholar’s Conference Series), Yale Law School, New Haven, Conn. (2001) Dana Farber Cancer Institute Leadership Council, Boston, Mass. (2002-2010)
Seven-time finisher of the Boston Marathon (2006-2012)
Panelist, “Understanding Cyber Threats,” Association of Old Crows Cyber Summit, MITRE Corporation, Bedford, Mass. (2016) Guest Lecturer, Homeland Security Course, Cybersecurity Policy & Governance Program, Boston College, Boston, Mass. (2016) Chair, ANG Cyber ISR Weapon System Council (2020-2021)
PUBLICATIONS
A Decade of Failure: The Legality and Efficacy of United Nations Actions in the Elimination of Iraqi Weapons of Mass Destruction, Connecticut Journal of International Law Volume 16 (2001), cited by U.S. Department of Justice in Memorandum Opinion for the Counsel to the President: Authority of the President Under Domestic and International Law to Use Military Force Against Iraq (2002)
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant May 17, 1992
First Lieutenant July 20, 1994
Captain July 20, 1996
Major Oct. 4, 2002
Lieutenant Colonel Oct. 4, 2009
Colonel Nov. 17, 2014
Brigadier General May 25, 2022
(Current as of October 2024)
