Dakota Wood served as a U.S. Marine for 20 years, retiring as a Lieutenant Colonel. He is currently the Senior Research Fellow for Defense Programs at The Heritage Foundation and is the editor of the Index of U.S. Military Strength, an annual assessment of the U.S. military. He holds degrees from the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval War College, and earned meritorious distinction from the Marine Corps’ School of Advanced Warfighting. While in uniform, Mr. Wood served as a strategic analyst for the Commandant of the Marine Corps and Secretary of Defense. His operational assignments included deployments and/or contingency operations in the Asia-Pacific, Euro-Mediterranean-Africa, and Middle East regions. Following retirement in 2005, he helped to stand-up a global biosurveillance program for the Department of Homeland Security. From 2006 to 2011, he served as a Senior Fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments. Following his time with CSBA, he served as the Strategist for the Marine Corps’ Special Operations Command, 2012 to 2013, then joined Heritage in January 2014.