Before 9/11, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Falk was serving as executive officer for a field artillery battalion in the California National Guard, in addition to holding a civilian job. Following the terrorist attacks, though, as he explained, "I got some emails from some friends of mine telling me about an opportunity to work at the Pentagon. They were looking for people to help out in the Army Operations Center (AOC). They wanted some experienced people. The job description was to provide updates and briefings to the chief of staff of the Army regarding Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). That's how I got into the AOC." Working in one of the AOC's crisis action teams as initially an operations action officer and then later as an assistant team chief, Falk was involved with the staffing of deployment orders and exercise orders for OEF, Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Noble Eagle (ONE). He provided daily updates on OEF, OIF and ONE to the Army's senior leadership as well as to combatant commands and also coordinated and prepared responses to numerous Army and Joint Staff actions pertaining to the same, working with all elements of the Army Staff and its major commands. Falk discusses this high-stress, high operational tempo working environment, in which he worked for three years - from January 2002 through January 2005 - and then transitions to his next assignment: as the operations analysis branch chief, later deputy division chief in the National Guard Bureau J3/Domestic Operations. In this capacity, he developed capabilities for homeland defense and defense support of civil authorities, to include chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and enhanced conventional weapons consequence management, response to attacks and natural or man-made disasters.

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