Robert Ashley

Robert P. Ashley Jr. is a retired Army Lieutenant General with thirty-six years of leadership, operational, and combat experience in intelligence, global security, and risk management. He served as the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency responsible to the Secretary of Defense for global security and risk management.

During his time in the Army, he served as the senior intelligence officer, responsible to the Secretary of the Army for security, counter-intelligence, and intelligence systems development for an intelligence force of over sixty thousand Soldiers. As the former commandant for the Army’s Intelligence Center and School, he helped train over ten thousand soldiers annually in multiple job specialties including cyber, counter-intelligence, analysis, open source intelligence, enterprise intelligence collection systems, and was a plank holder in designing the Army’s cyber mission force.

Mr. Ashley Jr. also has extensive combat experience as a former commander and senior intelligence officer for the Joint Special Operations Command, Central Command, and International Security and Assistance Forces Afghanistan.

He has received numerous prestigious awards, most notably the Cyber, Space & Intelligence Association / Strategic Forces Association Leadership Award, an Honorary Doctorate Degree in Strategic Intelligence by the National Intelligence University, Daughters of the American Revolution Patriot Award, Appalachian State University Outstanding Alumni, as well as recognitions as a Wash100 Awardee and a John Maxwell’s Annual Leadership Top Ten Awardee.

Mr. Ashley Jr. holds a Master’s Degree in Strategic Intelligence from the Defense Intelligence College, a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the U.S. Army War College, a Bachelor of Science from Appalachian State University, and is a member of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Kenan Flagler Business School Executive Leader Development program.