John Cappello, a 25-year veteran of the United States Air Force, joined Spirit of America in November 2018 as SoA’s Project Manager – Serbia.

Prior to this, John was a senior fellow for military affairs at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and contributor to FDD’s MilitaryEdge.org. He also served as a senior analyst at the US Missile Defense Agency annex office in Tel Aviv, where he worked closely with the Israel Missile Defense Organization, providing program support for the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow anti-missile programs.

John started his career as a B-1 pilot, and went on to serve as the US Air Force attaché to the US Embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he was responsible for all operational, logistical, and technical issues between the Israel Air Force and the US Air Force. In this capacity, John also advised the United States Ambassador to Israel on all air, space, and missile defense issues, as well as defense authorization and appropriations issues.

Before his time in Tel Aviv, John served as US Air Force attaché and Acting Defense attaché in Belgrade, Serbia, and as a political military officer at Headquarters United States European Command, Stuttgart, Germany.