COL John Kunstbeck serves as the Deputy Commanding General for Operations, U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER). He was confirmed by the U.S. Senate for promotion to brigadier general on March 2024.
He is a native of Altoona, Penn., and first enlisted in the Army in 1993. He attended basic training at Fort Jackson, S.C., and served in the Army Reserves in Bellefonte, Penn., for four years while attending college. In May 1997, he was a Distinguished Military Graduate from Penn State University’s ROTC Program, earning a commission as a Military Intelligence officer.
During his career Kunstbeck has served in key leadership and staff positions in the Pennsylvania National Guard and active component. His initial troop leading assignment was with the 513th Military Intelligence Brigade at Fort Gordon, Ga. (redesignated as Fort Eisenhower in October 2023), where he served as an Interrogation Platoon Leader, Counterintelligence Company XO, and Battalion S4. As a captain, he served as the Special Security Officer and Headquarters and Headquarters Company Commander at Carlisle Barracks, Penn. As a major, he served as the Deputy Commander, 3rd WMD-Civil Support Team and as the Deputy G2, 28th Infantry Division.
In 2012, Kunstbeck transitioned to a Functional Area 52 (Nuclear and Countering WMD) officer with consecutive assignments at the Defense Intelligence Agency, serving as a Branch Chief and Division Operations Officer with the Defense Counterproliferation Office, and then in a joint assignment serving as the Deputy Division Chief with the Office of Advanced Technologies Intelligence. Prior to assignment to ARCYBER he served as the Chief of Staff, 20th CBRNE Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
His deployments include combat service with the 101st Airborne and 1st Cavalry Divisions in Afghanistan. Other deployments include serving as Deputy J2, Joint Task Force-Bravo in Honduras, and with the 28th Infantry Division in Egypt.
Kunstbeck has earned a bachelor’s degree in Education from Penn State University; a master’s degrees in Business Leadership from Duquesne University and Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
His awards and decorations are commensurate with his time in service.
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