Michael Tate Westbrook is an officer in the United States Navy who served as commanding officer of the USS ''Spruance'' (DDG-111) from May 2010 to May 2012. Prior to this, he served in the

Pentagon In geometry, a pentagon () is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple polygon, simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagon may be simple or list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting. A self-intersecting ...

on the Naval Operations Staff's Programming Division from fall 2007 through June 2009.

Career

Westbrook's initial sea tours were in USS ''Hawes'' (FFG-53) as Communications Officer, Ordnance Officer and Weapons Control Officer, and included combat action in

Operation Desert Shield , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

and

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

. In 1993, he resigned from active duty to pursue a career as a small business entrepreneur in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, during which time he also achieved a U.S. Coast Guard Merchant Master's license. He returned to active duty in 1997 and eventually served as Combat Systems Officer in USS ''O'Brien'' (DD-975), then later served as the commissioning Combat Systems Officer in USS ''McCampbell'' (DDG-85). He then served at the

Missile Defense Agency The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is a component of the Federal government of the United States, United States government's United States Department of Defense, Department of Defense responsible for developing a comprehensive Missile defense, defe ...

as the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense Program Support Officer in 2003, and as the Missile Defense Agency's liaison to the

United States House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense is a standing subcommittee within the United States House Committee on Appropriations. The United States House Committee on Appropriations has joint jurisdiction with the United States Senate Com ...

from 2004 through 2005. He then served as Executive Officer in USS ''Laboon'' (DDG-58), one of the three ships of the first Atlantic Fleet Destroyer Sea Swap experiment. In 2007, he was one of the 30 selected as National Finalists in the

White House Fellows The White House Fellows program is a non-partisan fellowship established via Executive Order 11183 by President Lyndon B. Johnson in October 1964. The fellowship is one of the United States' most prestigious programs for leadership and public se ...

program. He represented the Navy as a 2008-2009 Fellow in the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Seminar XXI program. Westbrook was the first "plankowner" Commanding Officer in USS SPRUANCE (DDG 111) built at General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, in Bath, Maine. Following the ship's commissioning in Key West, Florida, Westbrook brought the ship to its first home port, Naval Station San Diego, where SPRUANCE joined the Little Beavers of Destroyer Squadron 23. As Commodore of permanent Task Force 65, Westbrook commanded the Navy task force that launched the 2017 Shayrat missile strike in response to the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack in

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. Westbrook, a certified defense financial managerhttps://sdfm.org/cdfm/ completed a 28-year Navy career as Director of the office of Budget Programming Integration (OPNAV N801), known in Pentagon parlance as "The Bullpen." Westbrook retired from active duty in June 2021.

Military awards

Personal life

Westbrook is a native of

Murfreesboro, Tennessee Murfreesboro is a city in Rutherford County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Its population was 165,430 according to the 2023 census estimate, up from 108,755 residents certified in 2010 United States census, 2010. Murfreesboro i ...

. He holds a bachelor's degree in rhetoric from

Tulane University The Tulane University of Louisiana (commonly referred to as Tulane University) is a private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by a cohort of medical doctors, it b ...

and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from

Southern New Hampshire University Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) is a private university between Manchester, New Hampshire, Manchester and Hooksett, New Hampshire, United States. The university is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, along with ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Westbrook, Tate Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) People from Murfreesboro, Tennessee Tulane University alumni United States Navy officers Southern New Hampshire University alumni