JD Barnes enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1987 and attended Navy Bootcamp in San Diego, CA. After completing bootcamp, he attended Sonar Technician A school in Bangor Washington, where he was posted to the Blue Crew on the USS Ohio. During this tour, he applied for and was accepted into the Broadened Opportunity for Officer Selection and Training (BOOST) program. After a short training session at Naval Station San Diego, he attended Norfolk State University and graduated with a B.S. in Electronics Engineering. Upon graduating, he was commissioned as an Ensign in the Naval Intelligence Corps in 1993.

As a junior intelligence officer, he spent time in Attack Squadron Thirty-Five (VA-35) at Naval Station Oceana with deployments onboard the USS America and the USS Saratoga. Following this tour, he spent time as the Imagery and Collection Management Officer for Carrier Air Wing 17 at NAS Oceana with deployments onboard the USS Enterprise. In Jan 1996, JD arrived at USSOCOM to serve as the HUMINT Support Officer to Special Operations Forces, where he was charged with introducing SOF to newly-developed field collection capabilities.

In Dec 2000, JD arrived for duty in Seoul, South Korea where he was posted as the Chief of the Indications and Warning Branch, U.S. Forces Korea. Here JD was responsible for leading a combined U.S./ROK team of Intelligence Specialists charged with monitoring significant activities of the North Korean military that could activate Peninsula defence actions. He continued in this position until mid-2001 where he was promoted to Lieutenant Commander and moved to Washington State to serve as the Wing Intelligence Officer for Patrol and Reconnaissance Wing 10 (CPRW 10) at NAS Whidbey Island. Here JD executed multiple deployments to the Middle East in support of OEF/OIF, and other combat campaigns. He was posted in Oman, Bahrain, Diego Garcia, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia supporting airborne Intelligence collection efforts over Iraq and Afghanistan.

After this tour, JD arrived back in San Diego in 2003 where was assigned to the USS Boxer as the Ship’s Senior Intelligence Officer. After a deployment across the Pacific and into the Adriatic, he moved a few piers down to the USS PELELIU and was immediately deployed to the Pacific and Adriatic where he supported the Navy’s first ever Expeditionary Strike Group deployment. Here he orchestrated fly-off activities for embarked Marine Expeditionary Forces into Kuwait and Iraq. After a few years of this high-intensity activity, he departed San Diego in 2005 to attend Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery, AL.

In 2006, JD was again assigned duties in Tampa, FL at Special Operations Command Central as Chief, Counterintelligence and HUMINT Intelligence and promoted to Commander in 2008. He served in this position until 2010, after which he moved back to HQ USSOCOM until his retirement in 2013. After retirement, JD accepted a position in the USSOCOM J3 International Programs Office as a SOF Technology Release Analyst. He served on this position until 2017, when he accepted an assignment to the Air Combat Command at Langley
AFB. Here he served as the Chief of International Engagements and Foreign Air Forces integration lead, and later as the Deputy Director for International Affairs. He departed ACC in 2021 for duty in Tampa once more into his current position as Chief, International Operations for USSOCOM SOF AT&L. JD currently manages an International Portfolio that covers International Cooperative Agreements and MOUs, Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Comparative Testing, and Coalition Warfare Program activities for SOF-peculiar technologies.

JD is married to Sonja, they have one son (Austin), and they currently reside in Brandon Florida. JD enjoys Softball, Golf, Fishing, and coaching Austin’s various sports teams.