Lt Col Nicholas “Nick” Amato (USAF)
Senior Military Fellow
Center for Applied Strategic Learning
National Defense University
Lieutenant Colonel Nicholas J. Amato is a Senior Military Fellow at National Defense University’s (NDU) Center for Applied Strategic Learning (CASL), where he assists with the development and execution of strategic-level wargames and exercises to enhance learning objectives at each of the five NDU colleges. He joined CASL in June 2022 after completing a four-year assignment in the International Affairs Division at Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base (AFB), Hawaii. He was responsible for Air Force activities and senior leader engagements across South Asia and Oceania.
Lt Col Amato was commissioned in 2004 through Officer Training School at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. He is a career Air Force Developmental Engineer/Acquisition Officer and has served in various operational and staff assignments at research labs, squadron, program management office, and MAJCOM levels. His other assignments focused on Electronic Warfare and Communication, Navigation, and Surveillance/ Air Traffic Management.
Lt Col Amato graduated from the University of Michigan, Dearborn in 2002 with two B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, and he has earned master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering (2009), from the Air Force Institute of Technology, and Military Operational Art and Science (2018), from Air Command and Staff College. He is married with two children.