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Home : Our Team : Our Leaders : Biography Display

Maj. Gen. Lance A. Okamura

Major General Lance A. Okamura is the Deputy Commanding General for the U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) – Mobilization and Reserve Affairs, located at Fort Shafter, Hawaii.

Major General Lance A. Okamura is a Distinguished Military Graduate from Brigham Young University. He is a dual-track Military Police and Strategic Intelligence Officer and a certified Nuclear Counter-Proliferation Officer with extensive experience serving with other US Government Departments and National Intelligence Agencies.

As a Military Police Officer, Major General Okamura served in command and staff assignments with the 25th Infantry Division (Light), XVIII Airborne Corps, the USA Office of Military Support at Fort Bragg, and as a Phoenix Ravens Team Leader with Special Operations Command. It was in this capacity that Major General Okamura served in several overseas contingencies in the Balkans and Southwest Asia to include Operations PROVIDE REFUGE, JOINT GUARDIAN, and ENDURING FREEDOM and in various DSCA assignments to include the HURRICANE FLOYD Disaster Relief Mission and Operations NOBLE EAGLE.

As a Strategic Intelligence Officer and upon completing the Post Graduate Intelligence Program, Major General Okamura served in several National Intelligence Support Command and Joint Operations Officer staff positions for the Chairman’s Joint Chiefs of Staff and Defense Intelligence Agency’s Defense HUMINT overseas Operating Base operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was in this special capacity that Major General Okamura provided direct national intelligence support to Joint Special Operations Command, U.S. Southern Command, and Other Government Agencies-Coalition Forces in various expeditionary operations.

As a Nuclear Counter-Proliferation Officer and graduate of the Defense Nuclear Weapons School, Major General Okamura served as the Commander of the Weapons of Mass Destruction-Civil Support Team for the Pacific based at Barber’s Point, HI.

Major General Okamura’s past strategic-level command and staff assignments include serving as the Chief of Counter-Terrorism Programs for Special Operations Command-Pacific, Deputy Director for the Joint Interagency Coordination Group and Director for the Office of FBI-Military Affairs (Counter-Terrorism) at U.S. Pacific Command, as a Director and Assistant Chief of Staff for Headquarters US Army Pacific, as the Chief of DoD Detainee Operations and the National Detainee Reporting Center in WASH DC, and most recently as the Commander of Joint Task Force-Guantanamo in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and Director for Joint Task Force-Red Hill.

Major General Okamura is a graduate of Syracuse University's Maxwell School of National Security Studies Management Program. His civilian education consists of three Master of Science Degrees from Columbus University, the National Intelligence University, and the US Army War College. His military education includes the Senior Service College, Command and General Staff College, and other anti-terrorism, intelligence, and special operations courses. His awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal w/ Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal w/ 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Joint Meritorious Unit Award w/ 4 Oak Leaf clusters, and other awards. He wears the Combat Action Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Expert Field Medic Badge, the USAF Master Force Protection Badge, Army Staff ID Badge, Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ID Badge, and other foreign badges.

Major General Okamura is a former resident of Southeast Asia and reads, speaks, and writes Mandarin Chinese. He is married and they have two children.