China Strategist and the Senior Enlisted Leader of Development Programs at Fort Meade

Military Track: Cognitive Warfare and China

MSgt Jen Thurman is a China Strategist and the Senior Enlisted Leader of Development Programs at Fort Meade. SMSgt Thurman enlisted in the USAF in 2004 as a Chinese Language Analyst, and attended the Basic Chinese Mandarin course at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) in Monterey, CA. She has worked most of her career in Signals Intelligence at Fort Meade, where she focused on signals intelligence development, as well as analysis on network topologies, architecture, and protocols.

She also served as the Superintendent of China Education at the China Aerospace Studies Institute, where she educated warfighters at all levels of O/EPME and around the DoD through lectures on strategic competition with China, as well as Chinese information operations/cyber operations and emerging technologies. Most recently, SMSgt Thurman was the Wing CAG Chief at the 17th Training Wing at Goodfellow AFB, while continuing to engage senior leaders across the DoD and the nation on great power competition.

SMSgt Thurman holds degrees in Chinese, East Asian Studies, and International Relations, and she is currently completing a PhD in Public Policy. She is also a member of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition’s Texas State Advisory Council.