Brett Lea is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who most recently served as the Public Affairs Officer (PAO) for the 82nd Airborne Division. Prior to joining the Army, he worked for four years in public relations and event management. In the Army, Lea served as an Air Defense Artillery Officer and deployed twice to Iraq prior to becoming a PAO. Lea served as a PAO in multiple Joint assignments and at the Brigade, Division, and HQ Army level. He served in multiple positions at Fort Bliss, Texas before working for two years as the Army’s liaison to the entertainment industry in Los Angeles. Lea was a direct report to the Army’s Chief of Public Affairs with responsibility for developing compelling entertainment media and coordinating military support for entertainment projects including major motion pictures and award-winning TV series, both broadcast and streaming, that supported the Chief of Staff of the Army’s strategic communication objectives to inform and inspire the American public about their Army. Lea created a first-of-its-kind video podcast series called “JOE Talks,” which connected virtually the entertainment community with leaders in the U.S. Army in order to inform and inspire them about their Army.

 

He was the lead PAO for the evacuation of Afghanistan responsible for a public relations campaign for the evacuation of remaining NATO forces and over 124,000 civilians and the end of the 20-year war in that country. He was responsible for coordinating the division's messaging with U.S. government and international agencies and handling countless international media engagements with little to no prep time and only a patchwork staff of PAO professionals. In his last operational deployment, Lea served in Poland as the lead PAO for a multi-agency, multi-nation mission to support Ukraine's efforts against Russia. He was responsible for coordinating the messaging of the entire mission to diverse audiences in the U.S. and globally.

 

He has extensive experience implementing targeted strategies to build social media audiences from the ground up while serving in the 1st Armored Division. In the 82nd Airborne Division, Lea brought a wealth of experience building compelling and dynamic creative content to the second-largest social media presence in the Army. His keen understanding of the use of engaging digital content in support of strategic messaging using a diverse team of incredible talent furthered the national and international reach of the nation’s Immediate Response Force. 

 

He is President and Co-Founder of Discourse Digital LLC, a company that recently launched an online training program called SMART (Social Media Awareness and Readiness Training) to help government, private, and educational organizations protect their members against the risks associated with the Digital Information Age. SMART focuses on protecting social media users and arming them with the tools to safely navigate the Information Domain. Lea is a leading mind on efforts to counter the toxic effects of mis- and disinformation on U.S. servicemembers and has years of demonstrated expertise managing public relations campaigns in dynamic, and often chaotic, information environments.