Joel Winton

Joel “JW” Winton is a Senior Consultant at Lexpat Global Services, focusing on national and international security. He is an experienced national security practitioner with over thirty years of federal and state government service as both a civilian attorney and uniformed operator.  His expertise includes security cooperation and international partnerships, and Defense Contracting.

Joel possesses a diverse security background, with attorney experience as a State and County criminal prosecutor, at the Office of Secretary of Defense (OSD), Office of General Counsel where he litigated complex terrorism matters, and five years as a Space Lawyer at the Joint Functional Component Command for Space at Vandenberg AFB, CA.

Joel’s decorated career in the U.S. Air Force earned him recognition as a subject matter expert (SME) in Combined, Joint All Domain Command and Control (C-JADC2), and certification as a Dual-Status Joint Force Commander for Disaster Preparation, Response and Management by NORAD-NORTHCOM.  Joel also built significant Security Cooperation expertise with his time in uniform, including engagements and experience around the Indo-Pacific, the Middle East and Europe (NATO and Partners) through deployments, exercises and other security cooperation activities.  During his various tours, he served as an Air Battle Manager and progressed through Joint planning and operational warfighting roles, including O-6 Colonel Command in the 613 Air Operations Center (AOC) where he served interchangeably as the AOC Director, the primary Command and Control (C2) advisor to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command’s Theater Joint Force Air Component Commander (T-JFACC) for the employment of air, space and cyber power, across the Indo-Pacific.  Joel also served as a Combatant Command, Current and Future Operations Officer (J33 and J35) during exercises and crises at USAFRICOM, USEUCOM, and USCENTCOM.

Since retiring from government and military service, Joel shifted to Defense contracting roles, preferring to work and live from his original home in Hawaii, including as a Site Lead and Strategic Planner on a classified DoD contract.

Joel holds a B.A. in Government with an International Relations concentration from California State University, Sacramento, a M.A. in Strategic Studies from the USAF Air War College in Montgomery, AL, a J.D. focused on criminal and international law from the University of Cincinnati, College of Law, and an LL.M. with a Certificate in National Security Law from Georgetown University Law Center.  He also has earned an Executive Certificate in Public Leadership from the Harvard Kennedy School following successful completion of three Executive Education courses, including Leadership Decision Making, Leadership in Crises, and Senior Executives in National and International Security.  He has also competed with and coached the U.S. Military Pentathlon team.