CPT Christian J. Letsinger

CPT Christian J. Letsinger is an instructor in the Department of Behavioral Sciences & Leadership at the United States Military Academy (USMA).

CPT Letsinger commissioned as a cyber operations officer from USMA in 2018. Following the Cyber Basic Officer Leader Course, he was assigned to 1st Cyber Battalion, Cyber Protection Brigade at Fort Gordon, Georgia, as a mission element lead for 91 Cyber Protection Team, the only Army team directly supporting the Joint Force Headquarters Department of Defense Information Network (JFHQ-DODIN) mission. While there, he helped lead the analytic response to the SolarWinds compromise, the largest cyber intrusion in Department of Defense history, driving the detection and remediation of every affected Army asset worldwide. He also helped author two chapters of Cyber Warfare Publication 3-4.1, which established new Army Cyber doctrine, and helped develop the active-hunt concept- a proactive, data-driven methodology for identifying and thwarting adversary intrusions across the Department of Defense.

CPT Letsinger went on to build and lead one of the first two Analytic Support Cells in the Army, establishing the team's mission, processes, and analytic support to defensive cyber operations across five areas of responsibility. During this time, he served as the brigade's liaison officer to U.S. Army Europe in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, assisting the coordination of defensive cyber operations in the European theater to deny adversary access to U.S. and partner-nation networks during active conflict. His teams denied adversary intrusions across 12 named operations.

CPT Letsinger next served as the chief data officer for the Cyber Protection Brigade, where he qualified as a master analytic support officer, one of only six in the Department of Defense. As a member of the Army Cyber Data and Analytics Cross-Functional Team, he forecasted the brigade's long-term data and capability requirements and integrated enterprise technology and data architecture to align data with operational objectives and sharpen decision-making.

CPT Letsinger earned a master of business administration from the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business prior to teaching at USMA.