All Team Members

Dan Karbler

Partner

For 3+ decades, Dan served our nation in a variety of positions in the United States and around the world.  He has enjoyed leading our men and women, from all military services, in organizations both large and small, in environments that ranged from peaceful settings at home, to the stress and chaos of receiving incoming ballistic missile attacks in war.   

An expert in Air and Missile Defense and Space Operations, he has extensive experience in effectively leading large and complex military commands, conducting operations, requirements and capability development, test and evaluation, and budget formulation.  Throughout his time, he oversaw changes in Department of Defense strategic missions; he led major mergers, restructuring, and relocation of organizations as directed by the President of the United States. Specifically, he led the mission change and subsequent stand-up of U.S. Space Command as well as the transfer of the global satellite communications and theater early warning missions and the associated 1,000+ soldiers, civilians, and families from the U.S. Army to the U.S. Space Force.   

Prior to retiring from the Army as a Lieutenant General, he led the U.S. Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), a globally dispersed organization across 23 locations and 11 time zones.  He spearheaded the “16 Star Memo,” coordinating with the commanders from U.S. Space Command, U.S. Strategic Command, U.S. Northern Command, and the Chief of Staff of the Army to streamline missile defense command and control, resulting in President-approved changes to the Unified Command Plan (UCP).  For the final two years of Dan’s time in command, SMDC has been the #1 Army command in the Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey (FEVS) Employee Engagement rankings and was recognized as the Army’s “Best to Place to Work” in 2022 and 2023. 

He has a Master’s degree in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College, an Executive Master’s degree in Business Administration from Benedictine College, and a Bachelor’s Degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.  Dan is a Senior Advisor with the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Missile Defense Project, is a member of the TCOM Advisory Board and is a frequent contributor to Merit Street News on various national security topics. Dan has conducted numerous interviews and guest-lectured on the topics of Space, Air and Missile Defense, and strategic leadership at various think-tank, media, and academic venues and is a published author.  He was awarded the St. Martin of Tours Award from Benedictine College and was recently selected as a board member for the Military Child Education Coalition.