Todd Hanks worked with ASPI from  August 2020 as a participant in the United States Army War College Fellowship Program for academic year 2021, completing the engagement in early June 2021. He was recently selected to the rank of Colonel with an anticipated promotion date of March 2021.

Todd is an US Army logistics officer with over 21 years of experience and has had multiple tours of duty in the Indo-Pacific region. Todd has served in a variety of staff and command positions at the tactical, operational and strategic levels in units ranging from platoon to four-star headquarters, with both special operations forces and conventional forces.

He spent a year in the Republic of Korea with one of the most unique combined ROK and US units, serving as the logistics officer in the United Nations Command Security Battalion – Joint Security Area at Camp Bonifas near Panmunjom within the Demilitarized Zone. Later in his career, Todd served in the United States Indo-Pacific Command J4, logistics, engineering and security cooperation directorate for three and a half years. He was a joint logistics planner in the logistics plans and exercise division and completed his tour as the plans branch chief. As a joint logistics planner, Todd contributed to the development of the USINDOPACOM strategy, the Theater Campaign Plan, the Posture Plan and the Korea Contingency Plan and collaborated on the annual congressional testimony for the USINDOPACOM commander.
Todd has extensive experience in designing effective logistics strategies and systems to support a variety of military operations, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, peacekeeping operations and full-scale ground combat operations. Todd is trained and certified as a joint qualified officer, special operations forces logistician, mortuary affairs officer, parachute rigger and paratrooper.

Prior to joining ASPI, Todd was the Assistant Chief of Staff, G4 (Director of Logistics) for the US Army Special Operations Aviation Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He was responsible for coordinating the logistics integration and synchronisation of all aspects of maintenance, supply, transportation and services to operate and enable the Army’s only special operations aviation command. This command comprised over 5,150 personnel, 205 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft with an annual operating budget of $746 million.

Todd’s military deployments include Operation Desert Spring, Kingdom of Kuwait, 2000; Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Iraq, 2003 and 2006; Foreign Military Sales Advisor, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 2010; Operation Enduring Freedom, Kandahar, Afghanistan, 2012; Special Operations Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, Erbil, Iraq and Syria, 2017.

Todd has a Bachelor of Arts from Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Missouri-Kansas City located near his hometown of Smithville, Missouri. He is an avid sports fan and enjoys playing basketball, playing golf and running.

Todd has been married to Yvette J. Smith of Adelaide, South Australia, for over 10 years, after meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. They currently live in Barton and enjoy biking and walking the wonderful trails in and around Canberra.