Lt. Col Joseph T. Schaefer is the Chief of the Strategic Languages Division in the Department of Foreign Languages at the U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He is responsible for all Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Russian language & culture education, directing 16 military and civilian instructors for the foreign language education of over 500 cadets annually. Prior to arriving USAFA, Lt. Col Schaefer was a PhD student in Second Language Acquisition at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. His dissertation studies focused on the juncture between Language Planning & Policy, pedagogical approaches, and colloquial variety integration into Arabic second language programs.

Lt. Col Schaefer entered the Air Force in 2000 as a USAFA Cadet.  He graduated with honors and received a commission from USAFA in June 2004. He immediately entered the AF Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI) and became a Special Agent in Mar 2005.  As an AFOSI Special Agent, Lt. Col Schaefer successfully executed, supported, and/or managed various felony-level criminal investigations (EUCOM and CENTCOM AORs) and counterintelligence & counter-threat operations/investigations (PACOM and CENTCOM AORs).

Bachelor of Science Degree (Distinguished Graduate), Political Science, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado (2004)

FLETC Basic Investigations Course, Brunswick, Georgia (2005)

Aero Space Basic Course, In-Residence Program, Maxwell AFB, Alabama (2005)

Advanced Deployment Operations Course (ADOC), Fort Dix, New Jersey (2006)

Advanced Foreign Counterintelligence Curriculum, Elkridge, Maryland (2007)

Squadron Officer School, distance learning (2008)

Joint HUMINT/CI Management Course, Ft. Huachuca, Arizona (2009)

Counter Threat Operations Course (CTOC), Fort Dix, New Jersey (2009)

Master of Arts in Middle East & North African Studies/Modern Standard Arabic, Naval Post-Graduate School (Distinguished Graduate)/Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California (2014)

Officer Exchange Program with the Directorate of Military Security, Kingdom of Jordan (2014)

Advanced General Criminal Investigator’s Course (AGCIC), Brunswick, Georgia (2015)

Air Command and Staff College, Air University, distance learning (2017)

Air War College, Air University, distance learning (2021)

PhD, Second Language Acquisition, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2022)

Assignments

Jul 2004 – Jul 2007, Special Agent, AFOSI Detachment 515, Ramstein AFB, Germany

Aug 2007 – Dec 2007, Student, Advanced FCI Curriculum, JCITA, Elkridge, Maryland

Jan 2008 – Aug 2011, CECO, AFOSI 6 FIS, Yokota AFB, Japan

Sep 2011 – Jul 2014, In-residence Student, Naval Post Graduate School/Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California

Jul 2014 – Mar 2016, Deputy Director, AFOSI 2d Field Investigations Region OL-A, Shaw AFB, South Carolina

Mar 2016 – Jun 2018, Commander/Counterintelligence Coordinating Authority, AFOSI Detachment 241, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar.

Jun 2018 – Jun 2021, PhD Student in Second Language Acquisition/Arabic Instructor, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Deployments

Dec 2006 – May 2007, Officer-in-Charge, Joint CI/HUMINT Team, 82d Airborne Division RC East, Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan

Oct 2009 – Apr 2010, CECO, Strategic Counter-Intelligence Directorate (SCID), Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan

Bronze Star Medal

Defense Meritorious Service Medal

Meritorious Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster

Air Force Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster

AF Outstanding Unit Award

National Defense Service Medal

Afghanistan Campaign Medal with one device

Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal

Global War on Terrorism Service Medal

AF Overseas Ribbon (Long) with three devices

AF Longevity Service with three devices

Small Arms Expert Marksmanship (M-4)

AF Training Ribbon

NATO Medal with one device