David T. Powell

Lieutenant Colonel David T. Powell is the 2025-2026 US Army Fellow at MIT's Security Studies Program. He was born and raised in Summerville, South Carolina. He graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2005 and commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into Army Aviation. Upon completion of the Aviation Officer Basic Course and Initial Entry Rotary Wing Course at Fort Rucker, Alabama as a UH-60L pilot, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade at Fort Hood, Texas where he served as an Air Assault Platoon Leader, Battalion Plans Officer, and Battalion Operations Officer, culminating as the Commander of Alpha Company, 3rd Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade. Following company command, LTC Powell attended the Aviation Officer Captains Course and was then selected to serve as the Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama. 

LTC Powell was then selected for the OSD/JCS/ARSTAF Omar Bradley Fellowship where he completed his studies at Georgetown University and subsequently served as a Junior Military Assistant to Assistant Secretary of Defense for Personnel & Readiness and then as an Aide-de-Camp and Strategic Planner to the Secretary of the Army in the Secretary’s Initiatives Group. 

Upon completion of this assignment and graduation from the Command and General Staff College, LTC Powell served in the Republic of Korea as the Battalion Operations Officer and Executive Officer for 3rd Battalion, 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade and then as the Brigade Executive Officer for the 2nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. Prior to assuming command of 2nd Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment, LTC Powell was selected and assigned to the U.S. Special Operations Command HQ serving as an Operations Chief and Strategic Planner for the Special Operations Joint Task Force (SOJTF) in Iraq and Syria. 

LTC Powell’s most recent assignment was in America’s Tank Division, the 1st Armored Division, serving as a General Support Aviation Battalion (GSAB) Commander for 2nd Battalion, 501st Aviation Regiment in the 1st Armored Division Combat Aviation Brigade. Over 24 months, LTC Powell led his team through a successful 10-month deployment to Poland and Latvia, world-class aviation support to numerous Army and Joint partners at Fort Bliss, Texas, command of the Aviation Task Force supporting the DSCA/DCRF mission, culminating in support in NTC 24-03, 24-04, and Aviation Task Force mission command to NTC 24-08. 

LTC Powell has served in numerous overseas operations in conventional and special operations units to include Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Inherent Resolve, Operation Assure, Deter, and Reinforce, and overseas operations in the Republic of Korea supporting conventional and special operations forces throughout his career. He has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal (with 5 oak leaf clusters), the Air Medal (with numeral 3), the Army Commendation Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Army Achievement Medal, the Combat Action Badge, the Senior Army Aviator Badge, the Parachutist Badge, the OSD Identification Badge, and the Army Staff Badge. LTC Powell is married to Mrs. Lauren Foster of Lake Quivira, Kansas. Lauren is a Clinical Associate Professor of Occupational Therapy at the Kansas University Medical Center – Rock Chalk! They have three wonderful children. Elizabeth, age 8, and Alex, age 6, and a 7 month old, Penelope.