Arnold Punaro is a nonresident senior fellow in the Forward Defense program within the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. Punaro also serves on the Scowcroft Center’s Advisory Council.

He is the chief executive officer of the Punaro Group, a Washington-based firm that specializes in federal budget and market analysis, business strategy, acquisition due diligence, government relations, and business risk analysis and compliance. He serves on the Board of Advisors for the Center for a New American Security. Punaro also chairs the board of the University of Georgia’s School of Public and International Affairs and serves on the board of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Sam Nunn School of International Affairs.

Punaro worked for decades on Capitol Hill, including as the staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee. After Capitol Hill, Punaro served as executive vice president at the Science Applications International Corporation, where he was responsible for its Washington, DC operations.

Punaro is a retired US Marine Corps major general and a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient. After his military career, Punaro became chairman of the Reserve Forces Policy Board and served on the Defense Business Board. He also served as vice-chairman and chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association.

Punaro is the author of On War and Politics: The Battlefield Inside Washington’s Beltway, published in October 2016, The Ever-Shrinking Fighting Force, published in 2021, and most recently, If Confirmed: An Insider’s View of the National Security Confirmation Process, published in May 2024. Punaro consults for a range of Fortune 100 companies and has been recognized by Defense News as one of the one hundred most influential individuals in US defense.