Dr. PJ Maykish
Senior Advisor, SCSP
About
Dr. Paul "PJ" Maykish is an American national security strategist, retired U.S. Air Force colonel, and technology policy expert best known as Vice President for Strategy at the Special Competitive Studies Project (SCSP), a bipartisan initiative focused on strengthening U.S. competitiveness in AI and emerging technologies amid great-power rivalry. A distinguished military leader with 24 years of service—including command of U.S. Central Command’s Combined Air Operations Center (2017–2019)—he previously served as Director for Technology Competition at the National Security Council, directed classified research for the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence (2019–2021), and developed "Third Offset" strategies in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (2015–2017). Holding advanced degrees including a PhD in Military Strategy from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies, Maykish contributes to SCSP's reports on compute, microelectronics, and biodefense while educating on techno-economic competition.