Dennis Velez is a

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

rear admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

and surface warfare officer who serves as the chief of staff of the United States Cyber Command. He previously served as the director of plans and policy of

United States Cyber Command United States Cyber Command (USCYBERCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense (DoD). It unifies the direction of cyberspace operations, strengthens DoD cyberspace capabilities, and integra ...

from June 2023 to June 2024. Born in

Ponce, Puerto Rico Ponce ( , , ) is a city and a Municipalities of Puerto Rico, municipality on the southern coast of Puerto Rico. The most populated city outside the San Juan, Puerto Rico, San Juan metropolitan area, Ponce was founded on August 12, 1692Some publ ...

and raised in

Adjuntas, Puerto Rico Adjuntas () is a small mountainside town and municipality in Puerto Rico located in the central midwestern portion of the island on the Cordillera Central, north of Yauco, Guayanilla, and Peñuelas; southeast of Utuado; east of Lares and Ya ...

, Velez graduated from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering. He earned a master's degree in Information Technology Management. Also has a Master of Science in Management Information Systems from

Touro College Touro University is a private Jewish university system headquartered in New York City, with branches throughout the United States as well as one each in Germany, Israel and Russia. It was founded by Bernard Lander in 1971 and named for Isaac a ...

. In 2021 Dennis Velez was inducted to the Puerto Rico Veterans Hall of Fame.

Military career

Velez most recently served as the commander of

Carrier Strike Group 10 Carrier Strike Group 10 (abbreviated as CSG-10 or CARSTRKGRU 10), is a U.S. Navy carrier strike group. , CSG-10 consists of , the strike group's current flagship, with Carrier Air Wing Seven embarked on board, as well as the , and four ships of ...

from April 2022 to May 2023. He previously served as the commander of

Navy Recruiting Command The United States Navy Recruiting Command (NRC or NAVCRUITCOM) is located in Millington, Tennessee. It aims to recruit both enlisted sailors and prospective commissioned officers for the United States Navy. NRC covers the entire United States wi ...

from April 2020 to March 2022, and as the senior military assistant to the 76th

United States Secretary of the Navy The Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) is a statutory officer () and the head (chief executive officer) of the United States Department of the Navy, Department of the Navy, a military department within the United States Department of Defense. On Mar ...

Richard V. Spencer, with tours as commanding officer of the and . In February 2023, Velez was nominated for promotion to

Military decorations and awards

Among Rear Admiral Velez's military decorations are the following:

References

, - , - , - Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) People from Adjuntas, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican United States Navy personnel United States Naval Academy alumni United States Navy admirals Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) Touro College alumni {{US-navy-bio-stub