COL David Beskow, Ph.D.

COL David Beskow is an academy professor at the United States Military Academy where he serves in the Department of Systems Engineering. His research and interests focus on applying data science to support cyber, intelligence, and special operations problems. 

He was commissioned in 2001.  In 2002, he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division, where he served as a Rifle Platoon Leader, Rifle Executive Officer, and Headquarters and Headquarters Company Executive Officer. He deployed to Afghanistan in 2003 and Iraq in 2004 with the 82nd Airborne Division. After attending the Infantry Captain Career Course in 2005, he was assigned to the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, GA, where he served as a platoon trainer for five classes of Infantry 2nd Lieutenants. Upon assignment to Fort Hood, TX, then-Major Beskow served as an Assistant Operations Officer in 1st Special Troops Battalion. After returning to Iraq in 2008, he served on the Brigade Infrastructure Coordination where he assisted in overseeing $100 million of infrastructure improvement projects in Southern Baghdad.  

While deployed, Major Beskow assumed command of Bravo Company, 1-66 Armor Battalion, supervising battle space in the Eastern Baghdad regions of Fedaliyah and Kamaliyah (containing a combined Iraqi population of 200,000 people).  While under his command, Bravo Company assisted in rebuilding security and governance following the Shia uprising in the Spring of 2008. 

In 2011, he was assigned to the Systems Engineering Department at West Point where he served as an instructor, assistant professor, and analyst. While assigned there, he taught classes in Operations Research Modeling as well as Small Unit Leadership.  He has assisted in numerous research projects for the Department of Defense, including modeling stability/peace, portfolio optimization with open-source microfinance data, geospatial modeling, installation services cost modeling, and process improvement. In 2015, he was assigned as an FA49 ORSA to the U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, where he assisted in incorporating data science into intelligence workflows.  While there, he stood up the first data science course for OSINT Intelligence Analysts. In 2017, he began a Ph.D. program at Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science focusing his research on developing machine learning algorithms to characterize information warfare. In 2020, then-LTC Beskow was assigned as Chief Data Scientist at Army Cyber Command, where he synchronized Army Cyber Command’s data science and enterprise DevSecOps operations and served as chief architect for Army Cyber Command’s Information Advantage Platform. 

COL Beskow is a graduate of Ranger School, Airborne School, Sniper Employment Course, and the Stryker Leader’s Course. He graduated from the Infantry Captain’s Career Course in December 2005 and Command and General Staff College in August 2014.