Courtney Stiles Herdt

Commander Courtney “Stiles” Herdt is an active-duty naval officer and current military fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and United States Naval Institute (USNI). He reported to CSIS as a federal executive fellow after his successful command tour, leading the world-famous Swamp Foxes of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron Seven Four (HSM-74) through two deployments as part of Carrier Air Wing Three and the Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group. His team operated on seven different vessels, disaggregated across the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) and U.S. European Command (EUCOM) areas of responsibility. Previously, he served in numerous HSL/HSM squadrons as well as on staff tours as flag aide to commander, United States Fourth Fleet, at Joint Air Base Isa in Bahrain, and as a political-military officer in Stuttgart, Germany, assigned to EUCOM. He has accumulated over 2,900 hours in naval aircraft, primarily in the SH-60B and MH-60R. He has deployed multiple times to support operations in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the Western Hemisphere. His research interests include competition and conflict in the maritime domain with an emphasis on gray zone operations, European security, information warfare, and defense-industrial resiliency nationally and with allies and partners. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in oceanography, and he holds a master’s degree in operations management from the University of Arkansas.