Todd Schmidt

Col., U.S. Army, Ret.

Simons Center Director

About Me

Colonel (Retired) Todd Schmidt, Ph.D., assumed duty as the director of the Simons Center for Ethical Leadership and Interagency Cooperation Jan. 1, 2026. He is a retired senior military officer with nearly 30 years of experience and leadership within the U.S. Army with specific expertise in missile defense operations.

Just prior to retiring from military service in 2025, Schmidt served as director of Army University Press at Army University and the Combined Arms Center at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He was editor-in-chief for Military Review and executive producer of Army University Films. He is the author of Silent Coup of the Guardians; senior fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies; a research fellow with the Simon Center for the Professional Military Ethic at West Point, and an Association of the United States Army (AUSA) leadership fellow. He is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Cosmos Club, havens for fellowship, the arts, sciences, learning, and the sharing of ideas by scholars and practitioners of action. (Read full bio here)