Major General Adams was assigned to his current position as Deputy Director, Requirements and Capability Development, Joint Staff J8, in June of 2020.
Major General Adams was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1991, designated a Naval Aviator in 1993, and selected to fly the AH-1W Super Cobra. Major General Adams has extensive operational and tactical experience in the AH-1W, to include deployments aboard amphibious shipping as part of a Marine Expeditionary Unit and combat experience from multiple deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. As a Lieutenant Colonel, he commanded Marine Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 367, and as a Colonel he commanded Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One.

His staff assignments include MAG-26 Operations Officer; Strategic Assessments Branch Chief, Programs and Resources, HQMC Programs & Resources; Air/Sea Branch Chief, Force Application FCB, Joint Staff, J-8 Directorate; Aviation Plans, Policies, and Budgets Branch Head, HQMC Aviation; Weapons and Tactics Instructor, Marine Aviation Weapons and Tactics Squadron One; as well as various squadron billets in operations, aviation maintenance, aviation safety and pilot training. He is a school trained Aviation Safety Officer and a Weapons and Tactics Instructor.

Major General Adams graduated from the Naval Academy with a BS in Computer Science in 1991. He was awarded a Master of Science Degree in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy upon graduation from the Joint Advanced Warfighting School, Norfolk, VA in 2010, and completed the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in 2016 and the Harvard Kennedy School Cyber Policy Course in 2020.

Major General Adams has flown more than 3,300 hours in the AH-1, including over 300 combat flight hours. His personal decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Iraqi Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terror Expeditionary Medal, the Global War on Terror Service Medal and the Korean Defense Service Medal.

He has been happily married to the former Julia Garvin of Jacksonville, FL for 25 years and has two sons, John and Jake and one daughter, Jessica.