C4ADS Welcomes General (Ret.) Charles A. Flynn to Our Board of Directors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE‌ — C4ADS announces the appointment of General (Ret.) Charles A. Flynn to its Board of Directors, effective July 30, 2026.

General Flynn brings nearly four decades of senior military leadership and national security experience to C4ADS’ board, joining at a moment when the organization’s primary source data and analysis, across sanctions evasion, illicit finance, arms trafficking, and strategic technology diversion, is dismantling the networks behind today’s most urgent security threats and reshaping how governments, private industry, and civil society respond. 

“General Flynn’s appointment comes at a pivotal moment for C4ADS,” said C4ADS Executive Director Varun Vira. “His decades of leadership in the Indo-Pacific, combined with his current work on critical minerals and the technology dimensions of great power competition, give him a rare vantage point on the issues our investigations increasingly surface, from export control evasion to strategic technology diversion. We’re honored to have his insight as we continue to scale our impact on these critical national security challenges.”

General Flynn retired from the United States Army in November 2024 after 39 years of distinguished service. He most recently served as Commanding General of U.S. Army Pacific, leading the Army’s largest service component command and helping to strengthen U.S. strategic engagement across the Indo-Pacific. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Staff for Army Operations, Plans and Training at the Pentagon, and the Deputy Chief of Staff G357, Operations, Plans, Strategy, Policy, and Training at Department of the Army

Over the course of his career, General Flynn held command and senior leadership positions from platoon leader to division commander, including as Commanding General of the 25th Infantry Division and Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Pacific. He is a Distinguished Military Graduate of the University of Rhode Island, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Management, and holds master’s degrees in National Security and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Naval War College and in Joint Campaign Planning and Strategy from the National Defense University.

Since retiring, General Flynn has continued to focus on the intersection of national security and technology as a senior advisor at Palantir Technologies, examining the technology lessons China and North Korea are drawing from Russia’s war in Ukraine and the challenges large militaries face in adapting to transformative technologies. That combination of regional expertise and technology-sector experience reflects the direction C4ADS continues to grow in: equipping governments, industry, and civil society with the evidence base needed to understand and counter emerging global security threats.

General Flynn joins C4ADS’ Board of Directors alongside Hon. April Foley; John Callery, SAC (Ret.); LTG (Ret.) David P. Fridovitch; Newton Howard, PHD, HDR; Christopher Johnson; Sergey Kanareykin; Tibor Nagy; Eileen Parise; John Pearce; Grayson Wolfe.

For a full list of current C4ADS board members, please visit our website. For any related media inquiries, please email [email protected].