Michael was born in Boynton Beach, FL and grew up in Jacksonville. He was raised by a hard-working single mother and is the son and grandson of Navy Chiefs.

Michael has always felt called to serve his country. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute and has served over 20 years in the U.S. Army. After being commissioned as an Army lieutenant, Michael graduated Ranger School and was selected for the elite Green Berets. He has served all over the world as a decorated Special Forces officer with multiple combat tours in Afghanistan, the Middle East, and Africa. During his time in Afghanistan, Michael led the teams searching for Pvt. Bowe Berghdal, who deserted his post. Upon Berghdal’s return to the U.S., Michael was one of the first to call into question then-President Obama’s labeling of Berghdal as a hero and has continued to lead call for justice on behalf of all the service-members Berghdal’s desertion put in harm's way.

Since joining the Foreign Service in 1997, he has also served abroad in Brussels, Islamabad, Astana, Mostar (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Minsk, Tbilisi, and Cairo, and in Washington as a Pakistan Desk Officer and Special Assistant to then-Under Secretary of State Nick Burns. Mr. Fagin is the recipient of various Senior Performance, Superior Honor, and Meritorious Honor Awards, as well as a Presidential Meritorious Rank Award. He holds a B.A. from Williams College and an M.A. from the University of Michigan. Mr. Fagin additionally attended Harvard Law School and was an exchange student at Tbilisi State University in Georgia. He is a native of New York City.

From 2016 to 2019, Mr. Cardenas served as the Director for the Office of North African and Arabian Affairs in the Middle East Bureau in USAID/Washington where he led a multi-country portfolio team responsible for desk officer and technical field support to USAID missions in Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Tunisia and Morocco. Coordinating USAID strategic approaches within interagency policy dialogue for these countries, Mr. Cardenas has demonstrated expertise in development and humanitarian assistance programming in non-presence and conflict environments.

Mr. Cardenas served as the USAID/Afghanistan Deputy Mission Director in Kabul from 2015-2016, with responsibility for managing the Mission’s $1.2 billion Infrastructure portfolio as well as the offices of Agriculture, Economic Growth, and Acquisition and Assistance. In that role he chaired the Mission’s counter-terrorism vetting program, the water working group, and the Almaty Consensus working group. He previously served as the Resident Legal Officer in Afghanistan (2014), Peru (2009-2014) and Egypt (2005-2009). With over 18 years of USAID experience, he has received several Agency awards for bilateral negotiations involving privileges and immunities issues in Egypt and Bolivia, and was a leader in piloting procurement reform activities across USAID missions in South America.

Prior to joining USAID, he was a corporate transactional lawyer at O′Melveny and Myers in Los Angeles. He holds an A.B., magna cum laude, from Princeton University; and M.A.

AQM’s acquisition activities in FY2018 were approximately $9 billion covering overseas building operations, weapons abatement programs, secure procurements, and operational and support services. His specific portfolio is concentrated on Afghanistan within Kabul Embassy Compound life support and he manages the Afghanistan Life and Mission Support contract (ALiSS). He also supports Yemen, UAE, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Libya. Richard has developed one of the largest Department of State Contracts "Diplomatic Platform Support Services (DiPSS)." As the creator and Contracting Officer for the DiPSS contract. DiPSS is a world-wide full spectrum life and mission support contract to improve upon, but is separate from, DOD’s "LOGCAP" contingency environment logistics contract. We would also like to thank Richard for his military service to the United States where he served as a U.S. Army and military sea-lift command logistics officer and Infantry NCO and having served in Iraq.

He directs Building Partnership activities throughout the INDOPACOM through exercises, Airmen-to-Airmen talks, OPLAN integration, and Subject Matter Expert Exchanges. He also is responsible for PACAF’s premier Regional Training Center at Northwest Field, which includes Commando Warrior and Silver Flag, training 2,600 student per year. In addition, he has operational control over the newly built $23 million austere landing zone at Northwest Field.

Col Schmidt entered the Air Force in January of 1989 and attended Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base, TX. He obtained the rank of SSgt while serving 7-years in the enlisted corps. Col Schmidt attended ROTC at North Carolina State University, Raleigh NC and was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant. Col Schmidt’s career has included two Squadron Command tours (1-deployed), four Major Command Staff tours, two Airfield Operations Flight Commander tours and SDE and IDE in-residence attendance. Prior to his current assignment, Col Schmidt served as the USAF Senior Advisor to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Directorate of Current Operations, Deputy Chief of Staff Operations, HQ USAF, Washington D.C.