PROFESSIONAL BIOGRAPHY – JOHN MILTON PETERSON III
Writing on a regular basis for the Latte Party will be our own Chairman.
He is Founder of the Latte Party and also serves as Editor-in-Chief.
This professional biography includes:
- Military, Government, Security, and Corporate Experience
- Professional Memberships & Appointments
- Journalism & Publishing (with links to writing samples)
- Personal Life & Hobbies
- Future Plans
- Contact Information & Social Media Links
- Credentials for Media Verification and Vetting Purposes
- Favorite Quotes
- Photos taken during travels past 5 years
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Over the past 33 years, Mr. Peterson has served in all of the following roles: U.S. Army Special Forces soldier, full-time instructor to law enforcement & security, private investigator, intelligence contractor (analyst, specialist, SOF exercise role player, and surveillance instructor), federal employee at U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Personal Protection Specialist (PPS / executive protection), and as a security contractor. He began his military service in the Cold War under President Ronald Wilson Reagan, the first President that he voted for.
John is now a member of the Retired Reserve and on a mission to serve in other ways as a private citizen. He is the Special Project Director and General Advisor to the International Association for Counterterrorism & Security Professionals (www.iacsp.com), serving since being appointed in 1997.
John had previously been a full-time firearms & tactics instructor for 6 years consecutively at two of the top private training academies in North America, one of those being the Smith & Wesson Academy and the other SigSauer Academy. He has over 10 years of full-time instructor John still does periodic contract professional instruction of both firearms/tactics courses and teaching at professional conferences. He worked as an adjunct senior instructor and consultant for the Centermass Training Institute (www.centermassinc.com) from 2002 to 2016, is a member of the United States Concealed Carry Association plus several instructor and law enforcement professional associations. experience. He worked as an instructor full time at Sig through early 2002.
Following this was 9/11. He served in the war in Afghanistan / Operation Enduring Freedom as a Special Forces soldier on an SFODA (aka “A Team”) on the ground in a forward area. He also devoted much time to his last Special Forces unit as an appointed instructor (weapons, tactics, SFAUCC, SOTIC), marksmanship coordinator, leading the unit’s company level quarterly sniper training program for over 5 years, working on a counternarcotics program, planning & conducting unique training opportunities for this team, being asked to represent his SF Group in various R.D.T.&E. & procurement related functions for night vision, sniper equipment, weapons, and other gear, and other contributions. His combined time of active duty and Army National Guard was nearly 21 years, with over 14 years of that in the Army Special Forces. He graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) at Fort Bragg in 1989.
Prior to this, he served on active duty as an Infantryman in the U.S. Army. He was Distinguished Honor Graduate for more than one course and Soldier of the Year and Quarter in 3 different units along the way. Between his military and government service, he has had the opportunity to travel to and work in a number of countries on 4 continents, some of these being hostile-fire areas.
John served on the conference boards/staff of 7 different conference/expo events since 1993. All of these were law enforcement and national security related events, including TREXPO, GovSec/CPM, IACSP, CTEXPO, and others. In addition to also presenting at all of these between 1 and 14 times each, he also presented twice at the Annual Training Conference of the International Law Enforcement Educators & Trainers Association (ILEETA), 9 times at the ITOA in Chicago, 6 times for IACSP, 4 times at the North American Police Sniper Summit, 3 times at the SniperWeek in Florida, Glock Summit, American Women’s Self Defense Association, Annual Use of Force Conference, MLEFI&AA in New England, and more.
John has attended college at the University of Connecticut, where he made the Dean’s List, as well as University of Colorado at Boulder, Springfield Technical Community College, and the University of Kentucky, where he was in the Honor Program. He has attended training at the Joint Special Operations University, U.S. Army JFK Special Warfare Center & School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, U.S. Air Force Special Operations School, U.S. Air Force Air Ground Operations School (AGOS) at Hurlburt Field, U.S. Army Infantry Center and School at Fort Benning, and two Federal Law Enforcement Training Center locations.
Outside of the military and government workplaces, John has attended more than 300 seminar, forum, panel, and conference events at the Washington D.C. area public policy & national security think tanks as well as organizational conferences for intelligence, foreign affairs, law enforcement, security, and for instructors.
John has also attended more than 36 firearms & tactical courses, and more than a half-dozen each courses for driving, sniper, medical, and instructor certification. He has graduated from 2 courses for dignitary protection, to include the 100 hour Personal Protection Specialist (PPS) certification course offered by the Executive Protection Institute. In multiple positions as an instructor, he has taught as lead, co-lead, or assistant instructor in over 60 types of courses varying from 1 day to 5 weeks in length. Many of these he authored and lead instructed. He has taught to more than 10,000 persons between resident, multi-day courses and conferences. Most of these were law enforcement personnel. He now teaches various seminars such as the Concealed Carry Self Defense(TM) seminar, an Antiterrorism For Law Enforcement (TM), Countering Terrorism (TM), and others.

John Peterson giving a terrorism presentation at the 2015 ITOA Annual Training Conference near Chicago.
So far, John has presented at 55 professional national level conferences in the past 20+ years. He approaches it as both a good way to give back, a chance to take part in some professional development, to see what’s new, and a great challenge to be able to design & build a dynamic, effective presentation. All of these presentations were to government, law enforcement, security, or other personnel who have a life and death stake in the use of the material, making it all the more pertinent that it be done right.
The largest conference audience so far consisted of 600+ police officers at the ITOA in Chicago.
The highlight so far was to be keynote speaker for the 20th Annual Terrorism Trends & Forecasts Symposium near NYC on behalf of the IACSP its affiliated foundation, the CTSERF.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS & APPOINTMENTS
John is an annual member of the following professional associations:
National Press Club, Society of Professional Journalists, National Writers Union, Royal Photographic Society, Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Global SOF Foundation, Foreign Area Officers Association, International Freelance Photographers Organization, Nine Lives Associates (Executive Protection Institute alumni group), National Tactical Officers Association, Illinois Tactical Officers Association (ITOA), United States Concealed Carry Association, American Conservative Union, and Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
For 2 years, John served on the elected Board of Directors of the OPSEC Professionals Society , a private national security related professional association.
He was co-founder of the American Sniper Association and served on the Executive Board for its first three years. During this same period, he assisted a new military charity http://www.americansnipers.org/ and the affiliated Snipersonline. For years he served as a sniper instructor for both law enforcement and military personnel, designing or revising and instructing in 8 different sniper courses running from 1 week to 5 weeks in length. He has taught at all of the top national level police sniper conferences and still periodically assists with sniper training for law enforcement personnel.
Then, he co-founded and served for five years on the Executive Board of the now more than decade old national law enforcement event, the National Patrol Rifle Conference , a large conference and intensive, reality based competition conducted annually in Michigan. Then, for seven more years he served actively on this event’s advisory board as well as a voting member for the annual National Law Enforcement Patrol Rifle Award for Excellence, known as the Chudwin Award.
In the realm of combating terrorism (CbT),
John continues in his post-government work with volunteer public service which includes as Special Projects Director of the IACSP, General Advisor serving on the IACSP Advisory Board (appointed in 1997,) and Writer / Contributor to the official publication of the IACSP (www.iacsp.com). He has represented the IACSP at a number of professional conferences in Washington, D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, and elsewhere. He has assisted on the staff and as moderator at more than one of the IACSP’s Annual Terrorism Trends & Forecasts Symposia. He represents the IACSP and CTSERF at a number of national security and law enforcement events in the nation’s capitol. He teaches a set of IACSP seminars on antiterrorism, homeland security, and overseas security, all of his own authoring.
John also serves as Special Projects Director of the companion non-profit foundation, the Counterterrorism & Security Education and Research Foundation
In 2013 he was admitted to a Washington D.C. area think tank (“do-tank”), the Council for Emerging National Security Affairs www.censa.net . He also has a number of other national security related affiliations in the Washington D.C. area.
John is a Life Member of all of the following organizations:
- Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW, Bronze Legacy Level)
- Special Operations Association
- Special Forces Association
- AFCEA http://www.afcea.org/
- International Association for Counterterrorism and Security Professionals (IACSP) www.iacsp.com
- Academy of Security Educators & Trainers
- Army Sniper Association
- and of course……..the NRA (Endowment Level), Gun Owners of America http://www.gunowners.org/ , and the Second Amendment Foundation https://www.saf.org/. He is also a Life Member of the Gun Owners of New Hampshire and Sustaining Life Member of the Gun Owners Action League (GOAL) of Massachusetts.
(NOTE: for media verification and vetting purposes, scroll down to view the proof of membership for some of these associations)
JOURNALISM & PUBLISHING
John has been published 15 times in the longstanding & original newsstand and member publication, the Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Security International (aka “Counterterrorism” magazine), the official publication of the IACSP.
He writes for several magazines to include Outdoor Sportsman Group’s newsstand magazine “Be Ready,” http://www.shotgunnews.com/gear-accessories/be- ready- hits-the-newsstand/ (to purchase: https://store.intermediaoutdoors.com/products.php?product=Shotgun-News-Be-Ready-2015-%232 ) and the newsstand bi-monthly magazine “Firearms News” (formerly called Shotgun News) http://www.firearmsnews.com/ (But, we are told that his best stuff will be right here on the Latte Party.)
Much of his writing for the Latte Party will be in our PolitiFrappe blog, as well as in our creative writing area, and personal security and self- defense area, and our national security & law enforcement area. John is of course active in the issues of the day, attends CPAC and events focused on these issues, and plans to do a significant amount of writing related to this in the coming days.
See his first contribution to the Latte Party website here:
The Fight Ahead: Something To Think About (or scroll down on our homepage)
ONLINE PUBLISHING — other samples of John Peterson’s work are here:
The Go Bag (June 2013 issue of Be Ready magazine) (2013)
The Clock is Ticking (about terrorism) (2015)
On Bigotry and Racism: The Test Of Our Souls (2015)
NEWSSTAND PUBLISHING — look for John’s work in:
“Journal of Counterterrorism and Homeland Security International” http://iacsp.com/select-pay.php
“Firearms News” magazine (formerly called Shotgun News) http://www.firearmsnews.com/
“Be Ready” magazine http://www.shotgunnews.com/gear-accessories/be- ready- hits-the-newsstand/
The first in a series about defeating carjackings appears as the cover story here:
Carjacking Countermeasures Part 1 — U.S. Special Forces vet John Peterson covers prevention mindset, preventative actions, fighting with the vehicle and going to guns in “Carjacking Countermeasures”. Pages 8-16 of the Fall 2015 Issue of “Be Ready” magazine. (Available at Walmart, Barnes & Noble, other bookstores, and online at: https://store.intermediaoutdoors.com/products.php?product=Shotgun-News-Be-Ready-2015-%232 )
He is a member of four different media groups to include Big 3 Media Group and the biannual Big 3 East http://b3e.org/
He is also working more on his creative writing, to include spending more and more time attending writer’s workshops, conferences, seminars, and readings. He is the author of numerous law enforcement & firearms manuals, as well as the overseas preparation & survival manual / checklist / resource / seminar High Risk Environments Survival available via the IACSP at http://www.iacsp.com/pay_pal/fax/payment.php?id=IA302 . In 2006, he donated this original work to the IACSP to help raise money for its causes. In 2002, he was primary author working with 2 other instructors from Centermass Training Institute of an emergency response training & policy manual donated to a national law enforcement association, the NTOA.
PERSONAL LIFE & HOBBIES
John continues many of the same pursuits that he learned to love as a Boy Scout and then in the military. So, he enjoys hiking, backpacking, camping, photography, cooking, long distance swimming, cycling, competitive orienteering, cross-country skiing, occasional shooting competitions, and self-defense training. He is a former amateur technical rock climber and skier.
In 2012 he began attending formal meditation training at the Shambhala Mountain Center in Colorado, and then additional multi-day courses in that discipline. He began doing yoga partly as a means of dealing with injuries from his military service. He has attended multiple religious and contemplative retreats and several 1-2 week writer’s workshops. He loves attending historical & cultural events, professional development training, national security & intelligence events, anything involving personal transformation, reading, and sightseeing.
More importantly, he values spending time with family, attending Church & spiritual events, health & fitness, and of course . . . . . writing and staying involved in a variety of professional projects and trying to make a contribution. Obviously, some of those involve his lifelong patriotic fervor and penchant for service and giving back.
FUTURE PLANS
John is working on more than one book project, seminar projects, and journalism as well as a set of clearly defined personal, character, spiritual, and family goals. He hopes to develop further as a creative writer. (Note: he is quite proud of the fact that he is named after the famous writer, John Milton) Overall, he intends to make a contribution and do as much as possible to help some pet causes.
He will be working on the team of the Latte Party President Anne Marie Acks-Ruple, and Latte Party Advisory Council and leadership to do what we can to help in our quest to inform others, help our country, and do our part. He will be very busy behind the scenes in the important days to come.
CONTACT INFORMATION & SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS
Mr. Peterson can be reached at chairman@americanpreservationalliance.org
TWITTER: @jtfpeterson https://twitter.com/jtfpeterson
FACEBOOK:
http://facebook.com/JohnMiltonPetersonIII (professional page)
http://www.facebook.com/JohnMPetersonIII (this page includes over 150 photo albums and over 10,000 photos)
LINKED IN:
www.linkedin.com/in/JohnMiltonPetersonIII
THE LATTE PARTY
Please visit us . . .
on twitter at: @thelatteparty https://twitter.com/thelatteparty
on facebook at: The Latte Party https://www.facebook.com/latteparty/
email: info@americanpreservationalliance.org
Who We Are: http://americanpreservationalliance.org/who-we-are/
CREDENTIALS FOR MEDIA VERIFICATION
and
VETTING PURPOSES
There are all kinds of “stolen valor” and “poser” situations going on out there, so below are the credentials for 3 professional associations related to military and wartime service. (membership cards for life memberships in SFA, SOA, and VFW) Three Combat Zone deployments (two are defensive operations and one is offensive operations, all assigned on active duty in the U.S. Army Special Forces). These are being made public for purposes of vetting and proof of claims of military affiliation, and are iron clad at that.
FAVORITE QUOTES
(This is a partial, a sampling. Others are listed in my facebook profile “about” section)
And a few others from Thoreau, Emerson, Whitman, Hemingway, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, Lincoln, King, Teddy Roosevelt, Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, and others
PHOTOS TAKEN DURING TRAVELS — JOURNEY AND TRANSITION OF PAST 5 YEARS
(I have over 150 albums on my facebook pages, with over 10,000 individual photos)
THE LATTE PARTY
founded 2014 at a coffee shop in the VA Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
Anne-Marie Acks Ruple – President
John M. Peterson III – Chairman
Michelle Care Wix – Senior Vice President
Please visit us on twitter at: @thelatteparty https://twitter.com/thelatteparty
Facebook: The Latte Party https://www.facebook.com/latteparty/
Email: info@americanpreservationalliance.org OR chairman@americanpreservationalliance.org
Who We Are: http://americanpreservationalliance.org/who-we-are/
Very nice site, John! I like your wife’s photography also:)
Thank you! We would love to have you as a writer!