William Declan Byrne Jr. is a retired

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 ...

who last served as director of warfare development (N72) in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He previously served as the vice director of the

Joint Staff The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, which advises the president of the United States, the United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense, ...

. Byrne also served as the 85th Commandant of Midshipmen of 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 ...

from May 2013 to June 2015. Byrne attended the

, graduating in 1987 with a B.S. degree in political science. While there, he was a record-setting starting

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for three football seasons. Byrne later earned an M.S. degree in National Resource Strategy from the

Industrial College of the Armed Forces The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (Eisenhower School), formerly known as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), is a part of the National Defense University (Washington, D.C.), National Defens ...

in 2004.

Awards and decorations

In 2015, Byrne was selected as a co-recipient of the Distinguished American Award by the National Football Foundation and

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive Tourist attraction, attraction devoted to college football, college American football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players ...

References

Year of birth uncertain Living people Navy Midshipmen football players United States Naval Academy alumni Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy alumni United States Navy admirals Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit Year of birth missing (living people) Military personnel from California Long stubs with short prose {{USN-bio-stub

Awards and decorations

See also

References