Joel Bagnal worked in the White House from 2001 to 2008.  He served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy homeland security advisor, taking on the position of acting homeland security and counterterrorism advisor from January to April 2008. In this capacity, Bagnal oversaw the development and coordination of national policy relating to incident management and continuity of operations. Bagnal was brought to the White House Office of Homeland Security as the director of Incident Management and Threat Countermeasures, where he helped develop the National Strategy for Homeland Security and policy for national incident management.

 

Bagnal’s years in the White House were interrupted from July 2004 to May 2005, when he served as a special assistant to the commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the United States Northern Command. Bagnal has also served as a special assistant to the director of the Homeland Security Task Force, Office of the Secretary of Defense; senior advisor to the deputy chief of staff for programs of the United States Army from June 2000 to September 2001; and as a domestic preparedness officer from September 1999 to May 2000, where he trained first responders on weapons of mass destruction consequence management in the nation’s largest cities.

 

From August 1998 to August 1999, Bagnal served as chief of operations for Multinational Division North and Task Force Eagle in Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Kosovo Air Campaign. Bagnal is a graduate of the United States Military Academy, and held command and staff positions as an infantry officer in the U.S. Army from 1986 to 1996.