Colonel Aarti U. Puri, USAF, is a Military Instructor at the Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, National Defense University, Fort McNair, Washington D.C.
Prior to her current assignment she served on the Joint Staff as the Chief of the Plans Integration Branch, Joint Operational War Plans Division, in the Directorate for Strategy, Plans, and Policy (J-5). She has held a variety of contracting positions at the operational, systems, and staff levels, with combat deployments as a contingency contracting officer and as a Defense Contract Management Agency administrative contracting officer in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Col Puri also served as an aircraft maintenance officer and supported Operations Enduring and Iraqi Freedom as a deployed KC-135 aircraft maintenance officer in charge of the world’s largest tanker unit. Additionally, she has served as an Air Advisor, deploying to the African continent to build partnerships with several sub-Saharan African nations.
Col Puri commanded a contracting squadron, where she was responsible for the execution of an $820 million portfolio serving 88 mission partners at America’s only tri-service Joint Base. She also has executive staff experience at the flying wing and numbered Air Force levels.
Col Puri entered the Air Force in May 2001 as a distinguished graduate of the United States Air Force Academy where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology. She also holds a Master of Business Administration from Nichols College, MA, a Master of Science in Defence and Strategic Studies form the University of Madras, India, and a Master of Science in National Resource Strategy as a 2019 graduate of the Eisenhower School.