Colonel Eric M. Murphy is an instructor at The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, DC. He entered the United States Air Force through Officer Training School in 1997, having earned a BA in English Literature and an MA in Mathematics from Eastern New Mexico University. His first assignment was as a test manager and operations research analyst with the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Kirtland Air Force Base, NM. While there, he designed and led test activities to evaluate a wide range of programs, from combat search and rescue systems to architectures designed to detect threats from biological weapons. He then spent two years as an Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the United States Air Force Academy, where he was selected to pursue a Doctorate in Mathematics. Having earned his PhD from Texas Tech University, Colonel Murphy was assigned to Headquarters Air Force Studies & Analyses, Assessments and Lessons Learned (AF/A9). On the Air Staff, he provided senior Air Force decision-makers insight into future operations, war plans, and program alternatives. From there, he moved to the Warfighting Analysis Division of Joint Staff, J-8, where he provided analytical support for senior leaders in the areas of force structure and force posture. He was then selected to attend the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies at Maxwell AFB, before moving to Headquarters Air Force Space Command at Peterson Air Force Base, CO, where he served as the command’s Chief of Strategic Planning. Colonel Murphy was then selected as the Commander of the Air Education and Training Command Studies and Analysis Squadron, leading analysis of major programs and operational test efforts across the command. He subsequently attended the Air War College’s Grand Strategy program at Maxwell Air Force Base, AL, and was then selected for assignment as an operations research analyst with Office of the Secretary of Defense Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation. In his previous assignment, Colonel Murphy was the Chief of the Capabilities Division at Headquarters U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, responsible for the command’s engagement in the Program and Budget Review and Capability Gap Assessment processes and for the Science and Technology portfolio. Colonel Murphy has deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, and in support of numerous exercises.