Lieutenant Colonel Dan “Mayhem” Minnocci is the 2025-2026 senior Air Force fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.

Previously, Minnocci was the policy branch chief at Headquarters Air Force, Security Forces Directorate. He led a staff branch responsible for the drafting, coordination, and publication of Department of the Air Force policy and guidance governing the Security Forces enterprise’s base defense, law and order, combat arms, and working dog operations.

Minnocci commissioned through the Air Force Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program at the University of Central Florida in 2006. He is a career Security Forces officer having held leadership positions in varied Air Force, Joint, and multinational organizations, and has over four years of deployments supporting operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Niger. Minnocci previously commanded a unique airborne/air assault-capable squadron as part of the Department of Defense’s Immediate Response Force, deploying twice while in command. His staff experience includes serving as the NATO military police deputy provost marshal at HQ Allied Air Command in Germany and as a country director for Afghanistan and Pakistan in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, shaping national policy on matters ranging from security assistance to counterterrorism. Prior to his current assignment, Minnocci commanded the 8th Security Forces Squadron at Kunsan Air Base in South Korea and served as the combined joint defense force commander of US Forces-Korea’s Area VI.