About Tom

About Tom

I swore an oath to defend all Americans all the way back in 1987. This is the fight we are in. I’m not just fighting for the Republicans or the Conservatives. I’m fighting for all Virginians. Indeed I am fighting for all Americans. The Constitution doesn’t make a distinction – liberal, conservative, Democrat or Republican, black or white or brown, gay or straight, rich or poor. Neither do I. I’m fighting to get back our American dream, a dream Socialists and Liberals  have worked to destroy for the last 60 years.

I left my private life and got into the fight in 2016 because I became sick and tired of the political elites who had spent their entire adult lives working to dismantle the American Dream. I am fighting to restore our liberty and give the government back to the people.

Since 1987, I have served on Active Duty or in the Army Reserves at tactical, operational, strategic and the national level and continue to serve today in the Army Reserves as a Chief Warrant Officer (CW3). I served in Afghanistan alongside U.S. Special Forces and am well-known as a bulldog when it comes to fighting injustice, training and taking care of my Soldiers and never quitting. 

Since 2005, I have served in the military or the intelligence community as a subject matter expert on intelligence, terrorism and Middle Eastern conflict issues. I am intimately familiar with the mosaic of threats we face across around the world. I will do whatever it takes to protect our country from all enemies foreign and domestic. 

I will continue to fight against the Socialist agenda to take away our rights to protect ourselves and protect our children.

Biography

I was born in Peoria, Illinois in March of 1969. We were poor but working class. My parents always worked. Neither graduated from college or ever had a “career” per say. They raised me to, as my dad would say, “Work one square foot at a time.” My mom inspired me to get an education and my grandmother and my dad inspired me to never ever quit. I wasn’t raised to see obstacles. I was raised to see opportunities.

I was first married from 1991 to 2005 and I have two wonderful children from that marriage, Thomas and Sophia. Tommy served in the U.S. Navy. I am now remarried since 2011 to my wife Amy and have an amazing step-son, Evan, and a son, Nicholas. Evan is currently serving in the U.S. Army.

I attended Illinois State University where I earned my Bachelors of Science Degree in Political Science with a focus on Middle Eastern Studies and Conflict Resolution. In 2014, I earned my Masters in International Relations and Conflict Resolution with a Concentration in International and Transnational Security Issues from American Military University.

I have worked as a security guard, as a convenience store clerk, delivered pizzas, bought and resold government surplus, operated rental properties, worked in my father’s restaurants, and had many other jobs as well. I worked for the VA as a vocational rehabilitation assistant, at IBM as a site operations manager and as a Blimpie sandwich shop regional manager. In January 2001, I moved to the DC area where I worked as a international media relations manager for a small non-for-profit. I was at a meeting only a few blocks away from the Pentagon when the 9/11 attacks occurred.

On September 12th, 2001, I drove to New York City. The images are forever burned into my memory of the ash covered glass cases in abandoned jewelry stores and plates of food in restaurants and the desolate ash and dust covered streets of New York City. I will never forget.

Service

I joined the Army Reserves in 1987 and have served everyday since then, except a few years while in college, either in the Reserves or on Active Duty. I come from a military family – my grandparents served in World War II and the Korean War, my father served stateside during Vietnam, my fathers-in-law all served in Vietnam. My brother served in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. And now my children serve. 

In the Army Reserves I have served as an Military Policeman (1987-1991) and Psychological Operations Specialist (1999-2001). On Active Duty I have served as a Field Artillery Forward Observer (1991-1994), an Infantrymen (2002-2005) and a Human Intelligence Collection Specialist/Interrogator (2005-2009). I became a Warrant Officer and Human Intelligence Collection Technician in 2009. I currently serve in the Army Reserves as a Chief Warrant Officer CW3. I have served across the United States and around the world in Korea, California, Alaska, North Carolina, Afghanistan, Reston, VA and Washington, DC. I have received numerous awards over the years and am a member of the Sergeant Audie Murphy Club.

In 2009, after returning from Afghanistan, I returned to Washington and worked as a reservist on orders or as a civilian contractor at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the National Counterterrorism Center, the Defense Combating Terrorism Center, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and at the Pentagon in the Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate (IWTSD). Currently, Currently in the Reserves I support AFRICOM.

Today I am serving as a Senior Advisor to the Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.

January 5th and 6th, 2021 and the Aftermath

From September 2020 to January 9th of 2021, I was worked as the Senior Intelligence Collection Strategist for Domestic Terrorism at the National Counter Terrorism Center within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Office. I was not new to terrorism issues having had studied it since the 1980s.

In October of 2020, I warned the FBI Domestic Terrorism Task Force that I felt we needed to be exploring potential Black Swan event (unplanned for and unanticipated events which quickly grow out of control). The FBI ignored my warnings. While in this position I drafted the most highly classified documents for our intelligence community regarding intelligence collection into domestic terrorism and global racially and ethnically motivated violent extremism (REMVE). 

I attended a rally on January 5th, 2021 hosted by Virginia Women of Trump where I personally intervened and stopped potential violence. At that time I also warned the crowd of potential agitators and instigators hiding within the crowd who wanted the peaceful protestors to fight with the police. 

Unfortunately, I arrived at the US Capitol late on January 6th, 2021 and by the time I arrived there, the violence was already completely out of control.  

I was a voluntary witness to the January 6th Investigative Committee and I was featured in the Epoch Times documentary.  

I have been asked if I have any regrets regarding January 6th. I have only one – that I was not effective enough in warning that we were headed into something bad. 

Since January 6th, 2021 I have done everything in my power to raise awareness as to what I believe actually happened and most importantly why it happened which can be found here including a 90-page timeline of all the events that led up to the events of January 6th, 2021. 

Founder, Chasing Freedom – Virginia

After the 2020 Virginia Senate primary, I began working to unite grassroots conservative organizations into a single organization now called Chasing Freedom – Virginia where I serve as the Chairman. Chasing Freedom – Virginia is a non-partisan, conservative, grassroots coalition of individual Virginians and like-minded groups devoted to preserving and promoting our individual rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as envisioned by our Nation’s Founders in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. 

 Chasing Freedom – Virginia has four goals.

1)  Serve as a unified voice in Virginia for grassroots activists and organizations
2)  Mobilize “The People” of Virginia in the defense of conservative values
3)  Be a trusted source of information on civics and Virginia politics
4)  Vet, approve, endorse and support conservative candidates across Virginia

You can learn more about Chasing Freedom – Virginia on the website ChasingFreedomVirginia.com. 

The primary role of Chasing Freedom – Virginia is to provide voters with information about all the candidates during the Primary process. CFV vets and ultimately endorses candidates pre-primary and provides all of our information on Democrat, Republican and Independent candidates so Virginian voters can make to most informed decision possible. 

I officially resigned as the Chairmen of Chasing Freedom – Virginia on January 19th, 2025 the day before I became for the first time a government employee. 

Finally, I own a very small (very small) firearm safety training company, Responsible Firearm Owners of America, where I promote responsible firearm ownership. You can learn more on my company website rfoamerica.com. 

I smoke cigars, drink beer, drive a Jeep, ride a Harley, shoot guns, train Soldiers and Boy Scouts and am unafraid of speaking truth to power especially when it comes to protecting our country.