Commander Jeff Benson, USN
Adjunct Fellow, U.S. Naval Institute
Editorial Board
Commander Jeff W. Benson is an Adjunct Fellow at the United States Naval Institute. He previously served as both the executive officer and commanding officer of the destroyer USS Stethem (DDG-63), forward deployed in Japan from 2015-2019. Commander Benson has served aboard four different destroyers and as a staff officer aboard an aircraft carrier operating primarily in the Indo-Pacific region. He has taught at the U.S. Navy’s Surface Warfare Officer School, served as a director fellow for the chief of naval operations’ Strategic Studies Group, and was an assistant professor at Texas A&M University’s Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps.
In addition to his military service, he has worked for two members of Congress and was a principal with Technology Strategies and Alliances, a defense consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He also served on staff in the Office of the Secretary at the U.S. Department of Commerce and at the Office of Naval Intelligence. Commander Benson has degrees from Texas Christian University, The George H.W. Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, and the U.S. Naval War College.