Michael Pennington II

Michael Pennington was appointed to Defense Intelligence Senior Level as the Senior Defense Intelligence Analyst for China/Taiwan, China Mission Group (CMG) in May 2024. In this role he serves as the CMG’s substantive expert on China, Taiwan, and Mongolia. He provides authoritative advice to senior officials, commanders, other government agencies, and allied governments and leads analysis from across the CMG, DIA, and the Defense Intelligence Enterprise on wide-ranging intelligence, political-military, and security issues.

Mr. Pennington is a China SME with more than 20 years of service in various roles across the IC and Dept of Defense, providing strategic, operational, and tactical intelligence support to national-level policymakers, military commanders, and warfighters. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Chief of Integrated Planning and Operations in DIA’s Strategic Competition Group, the Deputy National Intelligence Officer for East Asia in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, a senior intelligence officer at DIA and the Joint Staff, and an intelligence liaison officer to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

He is a graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and holds a Master of Science in Strategic Intelligence from the National Intelligence University.