Lt Col Kristen “KJ” Heiserman is an IntermediateDevelopmental Education (IDE) Fellow at the U.S. Air Force Academy’s Institute for Future Conflict and an instructor in the Academy’s Department of Management. She is a senior Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) pilot with over 2300 flying hours in the MQ-1B, PC-12 and U-28A. She has served at the wing level as Chief of Theater Plans and, most recently, at the COCOM level serving as the Speechwriter for the Commander of NORAD and USNORTHCOM where she prepared speeches, Congressional testimony, briefings, and correspondence for the Commander responsible for Homeland Defense. Heiserman’s research, focused on Homeland Defense through the Arctic, is published in Modern War Institute, Real Clear Defense and The Watch.