Col. Jonathan Bennett was commissioned in May of 1996 through the George Mason University ROTC Program. Over the past 28 years of military service, he has served in successive leadership roles. This began early in his career with two back-to-back deployments as Company Commander of the 443rd MP Company. Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, 1st Lt. Bennett deployed the 443rd MP CO to missions in Operation Noble Eagle and Operation Iraqi Freedom. In 2009, Maj. Bennett was selected to lead a team of MP Officers and NCOs to conduct a training course with the Italian Carabinieri and other international MP leaders in Vicenza, Italy. Maj. Bennett went on to serve as the Executive Officer of the 336th MP BN (Pittsburgh, PA) and the Operations Officer (S-3) of the 3-318th Training Support BN (Fort Meade, MD). In 2016, Lt. Col. Bennett was selected by name to deploy as the OIC of the Strategic Detention facility in Joint Task Force Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay Cuba. He was subsequently selected for and assumed Command of the 400th MP Battalion and served three years as Battalion Commander. Following his tenure at the 400th, Lt. Col. Bennett was requested by the 200th MP Command CG on short notice to take Command of the 327th MP Battalion (Arlington Heights, IL) and deploy the unit to Guantanamo Bay Cuba to serve as the Commander of Task Force Praetorian again in charge of the Strategic Detention mission from 2020 - 2021.
He was selected for promotion to Colonel during this deployment and was subsequently selected to Command the 290th Military Police Brigade in Nashville, TN. The 290th is one of only four operational MP brigades in the US Army Reserve and consists of ~3000 Soldiers in 26 units across 11 states. During his tenure with the 290th MP BDE, Col. Bennett has developed critical working relationships with multiple Allied MP partners from Republic of Korea, Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Canada and others to ensure a shared understanding of detention operations in key theaters and ensure interoperability between forces. He has also led multiple efforts to modernize detention operations and develop innovative approaches that will improve MP capabilities in detention operations and other MP missions. Following Brigade Command, Col. Bennett was selected to serve as the Chief of Staff of the 200th Military Police Command where he is currently serving.
In his civilian career, Col. Bennett is the Special Assistant to the Director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he leads the WorkForce Futures Initiative. In this role, he helps shape how the US DoD innovates and prepares its people, operations, and infrastructure for the significant changes occurring in our workforce today.
Col. Bennett and his wife Amy have been married for 27 years and live in Gainesville, VA with their two children Chase and Amber. Amy teaches AP Government and Economics at Brentsville District HS in Prince William County.