TechNet Cyber 2026

Douglas Shahan
Senior Advisor to the Director for Operations, J-3
The Joint Staff


Mr. Douglas Shahan serves as the Senior Advisor to the Joint Staff Director for Operations. In this position, he is responsible for representing the Director for Operations (DJ 3) on all matters of national strategy and policy in support of DJ-3’s role as principal advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on C2 requirements, capabilities, and integration. He is responsible for organizing and leading planning efforts to design, develop, and advance the future Joint Force and effect departmental policy changes for implementation by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House, Combatant Commands, Services, and Combat Support Agencies. Mr. Shahan is a retired U.S. Air Force officer with 30 years’ experience in Command and Control and Cyberspace Operations. During his military career, he held four command assignments and led joint and coalition combat forces deployed in support of tactical and strategic C2. As a colonel, he developed a new CJCS Operational Order that brought unity among C2 enabling forces operating in support of the National Military Command Center. Similarly, he led a SecWar-directed Joint Planning Group resulting in the establishment of the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Networks (JFHQ-DODIN). After retirement, he worked for MITRE, where he was an advisor to the Joint Staff on national C2 matters. He was also an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University, where he taught a Security Studies Masters course on the Principles of Warfare and their application in Cyberspace. He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Tennessee and holds three Masters degrees with Certificates of Concentration in Weapons of Mass Destruction, Cyberspace Strategies, and European Studies.

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