Daniel T. Bilko

Lieutenant Colonel Daniel T. Bilko is the National Guard fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Prior to joining CSIS, he commanded the Army Guard’s Battle Command Training Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He enlisted as a private in the Army Guard in 1991, and as an infantryman, he undertook various tactical-level command and staff assignments over the next 10 years. Lieutenant Colonel Bilko has subsequently served with Guard, Army, Marine, joint, special operations, and interagency units, supporting operations Noble Eagle, Enduring Freedom, and Iraqi Freedom. He began his full-time military career working at National Guard Bureau in a variety of assignments, including domestic operations, overseas exercises, and mobilizations. Lieutenant Colonel Bilko led National Guard Bureau’s initial assistance team to New York after 9/11. In early 2002, he deployed to serve with Special Operations Command Central, supporting operations in Afghanistan and throughout the region. He then transferred to U.S. Central Command as a theater strategic planner in preparation for the invasion of Iraq. Upon his return, the National Guard assigned him to the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve as an exchange officer, and he would later become the plans officer for Marine Forces North. Lieutenant Colonel Bilko deployed to Iraq as an infantry brigade combat team deputy operations officer before Multinational Forces-Iraq transferred him to a joint/interagency intelligence, targeting, and law enforcement task force, the Iraq Threat Finance Cell. Prior to his recent command, he served as a strategist and planner in the Army Staff’s War Plans Division, responsible for homeland defense and civil support policy, strategy, and planning. Lieutenant Colonel Bilko graduated from George Washington University in 1994. He completed U.S. Marine Corps Command and Staff College and the School of Advanced Warfighting, earning a master’s degree from Marine Corps University in 2008. Lieutenant Colonel Bilko is a Massachusetts Guardsman. His personal decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and Meritorious Service Medal. He has a number of other achievement, service, unit, and campaign awards.