Lieutenant General Patrick J. O’Reilly is only the second U.S. Army commander to lead the Missile Defense Agency (MDA), which is charged with developing a viable system for protecting the United States and its interests from ballistic missile attacks. He has led the agency since November 21, 2008.

 

O’Reilly was born in San Jose, California, and raised as an Army brat, which included time spent in Kansas and Texas. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and was commissioned in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps. He later earned master’s degrees in physics, national security and strategic studies, and business. He is a graduate of the Command and Staff College, the U.S. Naval College of Command and Staff and the U.S. Army War College.

 

During his career, which has included more than a decade working in missile defense, O’Reilly has served in both command and staff officer positions in a variety of operational units including the 1st Cavalry Division, the 3rd Support Command, Germany, and as an assistant professor of physics at the Military Academy.

 

As an acquisition officer, he served as program manager for the Patriot PAC-3 Missile and, beginning in July 1999, the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Missile system,

 

His next position was the Army Program Executive Officer for Combat Support and Combat Service Support, in charge of buying and maintaining wheeled vehicles. In September 2005 he took over as program director of the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system.

Prior to becoming the director of MDA, O’Reilly served two years as the agency’s deputy director, beginning in January 2007.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Patrick O’Reilly Biography (Missile Defense Agency) (pdf)

O'Reilly Flies High At Missile Defense Agency (by Martin Sieff, UPI)