William Hagestad II, Lieutenant Colonel, US Marine Corps (RET)
Lieutenant Colonel Hagestad has a Master’s of Science in Security Technologies from the College of Computer Engineering, University of Minnesota conferred in 2011. He also has a Bachelor of Arts in Mandarin Chinese, with minor emphasis in Classical Chinese and Modern Japanese while also holding a second Master’s of Science in the Management Of Technology from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.
William is an internationally recognized subject matter expert on the Chinese People's Liberation Army & Government Information Warfare. He advises international intelligence organizations, military flag officers, and multi-national commercial enterprises with regard to their internal IT security governance and external security policies. The linguistic, historical, cultural, economic and military aspects of the Chinese Cyber Warfare are his forte. When national cyber security or protection of intellectual property is in question from Chinese Cyber Threats, William is consulted.
Lieutenant Colonel Hagestad military experience spans over 27 years; enlisting in theUnited States Marine Corps in 1981 and having served in numerous command posts; in 2002 - 2003 Lieutenant Colonel Hagestad was the Anti-Terrorism Officer for Marine Central Command during the initial build-up and subsequent operations in Iraq; and in 2006-2007 Lieutenant Colonel Hagestad served with II Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) and the US Army's 1st Armoured Division in Ramadi, Al-Anbar Province Iraq. Currently he is an advisory position as an Anti-Terrorism/Force Protection Officer. His personal decorations in the Navy include the Achievement Medal with Gold Star, the Navy Commendation Medal, theOperation Iraqi Freedom Medalwith single campaign star, the Global War on Terrorism Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal with 4 stars.
Currently he speaks both domestically and internationally on the Chinese Cyber Threat.