Summary: Lt. Colonel Tony Shaffer, a Senior Fellow with EMPact America, is a highly experienced intelligence officer and a recipient of the Bronze Star with 25 years of field experience returns to EMPact Radio. He has held numerous leadership positions, including commander of Operating Base (OB) Alpha (Defense Intelligence) and directing Task Force STRATU.S. IVY – a unit that conducted cutting-edge technology and information operations from the mid 1990s through the turn of the century. He has played key roles in multiple interagency operations that were conducted with the NSA, CIA and FBI. Lt. Col. Shaffer has led operations from the tactical level, such as defense source operations to protect REFORGER exercises in the 1980s to strategic level, such as STRATU.S. IVY’s direct support mission for Operation ABLE DANGER in the late 1990s. Lt. Col. Shaffer has appeared on Fox News, CNN, and other major TV and radio programs, and has been interviewed by The New York Times and other publications on pre-9/11 operations focused on Al Qaeda. He has testified before Congress on issues relating to 9/11 intelligence and operational failures. Lt. Col. Shaffer was awarded the Bronze Star for the first of his two combat tours to Afghanistan. He was credited for conducting highly complex operational support for the NSA and for playing a critical role in breaking the back of a Taliban counteroffensive in the fall of 2003. In addition, he was called back to active duty for DESERT STORM/DESERT SHIELD in 1991 to provide special support to Army Intelligence.
