Speakers

Mr. McFarland is the Technical Director for the Capability & Resource Integration Directorate (J8) at United States Space Command. He serves as the principal technical advisor to the Director as the command establishes space warfighting requirements. He serves as the government program lead for the USSPACECOM Laboratory, overseeing science & technology investments and prototyping for the command. He also oversees the development of command analytic capability as represented by the Capability Assessment and Verification Environment (CAVE), a high-performance computing lab incorporating physics, engineering, and mission-level modeling tools.

Mr. McFarland has more than 15 years of experience with modeling, simulation, and analytics within the Department of Defense. His first position in the Department was at the Joint Warfare Analysis Center, where he led the command’s applied statistics community of interest and managed the development of innovative environmental and threat monitoring in support of multiple combatant commands. In subsequent
positions in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations and the Marine Corps’ Operational Analysis Directorate, he developed computational models supporting the services’ Program Objective Memorandum development and was the Marine Corps lead for a White House-directed study of munition divestment. He also published statistical reports on the Marine Corps’ officer training and Exceptional Family Members programs. He volunteered to deploy with the Marine Corps unit supporting crisis response in Africa and developed new techniques to prioritize senior leader engagements on the continent and support embassy emergency action plans.

As the Studies, Analysis, and Lessons Learned Chief at United States Air Forces Europe – Air Forces Africa (USAFEAFAFRICA), Mr. McFarland was on the leading edge of a  Department of the Air Force-wide effort to “operationalize” the operations research field, applying rigorous mathematical methods to command problems including force employment and near-peer deterrence. He also advanced relationships with NATO partners via integration with multiple NATO Science and Technology Organization research task groups. His work during this period led to recognition across the Air Force and joint analytic communities for high-impact support to service members in conflict environments in the present day.

Mr. McFarland has extensive expertise in defense analytics, with particular emphasis on computational modeling and applied statistics. He designed the USAFE-AFAFRICA Pandemic Analysis – COA Evaluation & Recommendation (PACER) tool, based on advanced agent-based modeling techniques, which was used by multiple Air Force and joint commands to plan for continuity of operations during the COVID pandemic.  He also led the rapid development of mission-level combat simulations in support of crisis operations in the EUCOM area of responsibility that demonstrated the utility of these models for real-world operational planning.

In addition to his professional work, Mr. McFarland has conducted statistical and game-theoretic analysis of congressional and judicial behavior which has been presented at professional academic conferences.  He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado with his wife Kit and daughter Evangeline (17).  His oldest child Robin (19) attends Georgetown University.