George Sotelo

Lt Col George Sotelo is currently a National Security Fellow with Harvard Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Lt Col Sotelo is a Reservist who, in his civilian capacity, helps run the family business. It is a small upholstery business in Los Angeles, California. In his military capacity, Lt Col Sotelo is a 2004 graduate of Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of California, Los Angeles. A career intelligence officer, Lt Col Sotelo held numerous positions from the unit level, to working in the State Dept as the Deputy Air Attaché at the U.S. Embassy Abu Dhabi, as well as being the personal Department of Defense advisor to the Director of Intelligence for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Force. He is a Joint Qualified Officer with multiple joint-assignment deployments to the Middle East. While working for the Commander of Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), in her Commander’s Action Group (CAG), the AFRC/CC hand-selected him to be the MAJCOM’s Congressional Affairs Liaison. In this capacity he interfaces directly with national leaders who make the policies that keep America's citizens and its military members safe. 

During his deployment to the Combined Air and Space Operations Center (CAOC), Lt Col Sotelo was the Deputy Director of Intelligence and led the intelligence integration of all partner nations supporting Operation INHERENT RESOLVE and development of the Coalition Intelligence Fusion Cell (CIFC). He has acquired a breadth of expertise working with Cyber, Space, and Information Operations (IO) and he holds the Army’s 6Z special identifier as a Strategist. Finally, as an Attaché, he helped develop Air Force policy through the AFCENT Air Warfare Center and advised the U.S. Ambassador on operational activities while coordinating with the State Dept on Air Force positions. 

Prior to his current assignment, the Lt Col was the Executive Assistant (EA) for the Joint Staff J-7 Director at the Pentagon, Washington DC. In this capacity, he supported the Joint Staff J-7 Director in assisting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs with fulfilling the role of principal military advisor to the President of the United States and Secretary of Defense. He also assisted the J-7 Director, J-7 Vice Director, and an SES level III in leading three Deputy Directorates and two Chairman Controlled Activities with over 2,200 members across 12 CONUS locations. Lt Col Sotelo was also responsible for the J-7 Director’s communication and guidance across the J-7 while also facilitating collaboration throughout the Joint Staff, Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Combatant Commands, National Security Council, interagency partners, and the White House.

Lt Col Sotelo led multiple teams and squadrons to numerous awards from the wing level to the Air Force Reserve level. He has personally earned multiple academic honors throughout this career to include Top Graduate and Distinguished Graduate.