Joint Staff Action Officer for Counterterrorism and Special Operations, U.S. Army
MAJ Amanda Barnett is a native of San Bernardino County, Calif. She was commissioned a second lieutenant into the U.S. Army Military Police Corps in 2005 upon graduating from the University of Southern California Santa Barbara. After commissioning, she attended the Military Police Officer’s Basic Course at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and in December 2005, was assigned to the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Special Troops Battalion (STB) in Bamberg, Germany. While assigned to the STB, she deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, from May 2007- July 2008, as both a military police platoon leader and executive officer.
In 2009, Amanda attended the National Interagency Interrogation Course and switched her military occupational specialty (or branch) to Military Intelligence (MI). Amanda’s first assignment as a MI officer was at Camp Zama in Tokyo, Japan. From her detachment in Japan, Amanda deployed to Iraq in support of Operation New Dawn from January 2011 – August 2011. Upon redeployment, Amanda was selected to serve in the United States Army Special Operations Command (USASOC) in Fort Bragg, N.C., where she served until July 2018.
During her time with USASOC, Amanda deployed to Iraq three times, Jordan twice, and Syria, Tunisia, and Yemen once. She departed USASOC in July 2018 to serve on the Joint Staff in the J37, deputy director for special operations and counterterrorism, where she is currently serving as an operations officer.
Amanda is married to a fellow service member, Mr. William “Lee” Barnett, and they have one daughter, Savannah Leigh Barnett. Amanda holds a Master of Arts in business security management and is currently in the process of working on her MBA. When not at work, Amanda’s passion is on the trails where she can be found running extremely long distances (a.k.a. “ultra-running”).
