Years Later he was appointed by the Department of Justice, Bureau of Prisons (BOP)

To the position of Federal Correctional Officer. While working for the BOP, his duties included suppling supervision and care for federally housed inmates; including but not limited to, guidance to lower-ranking Correctional officers and staff. During his tenure with the BOP, he supervised a host of high-profile New York-based organized crime family members, notable John Gotti, Russian mafia boss Viktor Ivanov, and street gang leader, Kenneth ‘Supreme’ McGriff and members of his Organization.

In 1998, Ken was selected to attend and graduated from the Drug Enforcement Administrations’ (DEA) Basic Agent training course hosted by the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Following graduation, and throughout the course of his 19-year career; he worked as a DEA criminal investigator in DEA offices in New York, Washington DC, and Baltimore Maryland.

From 2005 through his retirement, he held a collateral Assignment as a Drug Prevention Advocate for DEA in the Washington Metropolitan area, wherein he sat as a non-voting board member for Washington DC Council of Government, and Chantilly, Virginia Drug Treatment and Prevention Community Coalition. Of Significant note, he was a drug/alcohol awareness Town Hall panel member in Fairfax County, Virginia event covered by C-Span and local media outlets.

In 2008, Ken was selected for the position of Instructor/Course Developer at the DEA Training Academy, in this assignment, he taught basic agents about the nuances of being a special agent, with a focused emphasis on the inherent dangers associated with undercover work. During this assignment, he was selected to attend and receive a certification form the Institute For Law Enforcement Administration, Plano, Texas, Ethics, Train and the Trainer Course in 2009. He also served as the public Information Officer – in this role he coordinated public relations activities, events, and media requests for DEA Academy Executive staff and the Training Academy’s community outreach programs.

In 2011 Ken was selected and promotions to the position of Country Attaché; at the US Embassy Bucharest, Romania; while in Romania, part of his duties included working in an International Intelligence Fusion Center, called SELEC. In this capacity, he worked closely and collaborated host and 17 other foreign law enforcement partners to develop strategic drug trafficking initiatives and agendas.

In 2013, he was assigned to the DEA Baltimore District Office; in this assignment he was selected as Supervisor of the Heroin Task Force in Baltimore, Maryland. In this assignment he served as the Team Leader in offices’ partnership with the Baltimore City’s Medical Examiner’s Office, Mayor’s Office, state and local law enforcement agencies, and other stake holding addressing the surge in fentanyl-heroin overdoses in Baltimore Maryland metropolitan area.

March 2023 - Certified Administrator for Everything DISC Behavioral Self- Assessment

Marshal Ward is a major General, USAF (Retired) with over 45 years of experience of successful senior leadership experience in positions responsible for strategic planning, operations, and policy development. He also has over 10 years of executive-level industry experience leading geographically dispersed, high technology organizations. He served as a senior Advisor for the AF Space Command, the National Reconnaissance Office, and the CSAF Futures Wargames.

He is currently Senior Advisor for National Security Space at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physicals Laboratory (JHU/APL) and guest lecturer on U.S. Space Policy at the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. Prior to joining JHU/APL, Marshal War served as the Chief Operating Officer of Integral Systems, Inc. in Columbia, MD and as the Vice President and General Manager for the Space Systems and Electronics division of BAE Systems, Inc in Merrimack, NH. As an Air Force General Officer, he served as the Director of Special Programs, in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as Deputy Director of Operations & Training for HQ USAF in the Pentagon, Washington DC, and as Director of Operational Requirements for the Air Force Space Command in Colorado Springs, CO.

Marshal Ward began his military career as an enlisted Airman in 1966 and earned his commission through the Airman’s Education and Commissioning Program (AECP) and Officer Training School (OTS) in 1969. From 1970-1973, Marshal Ward served as an Airborne Weather Reconnaissance Officer Aboard the WC-130 aircraft and flew into the eye of 16 named hurricanes as a USAF Hurricane Hunter. He earned his pilot wings in 1974 at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma where he received honors as Distinguished Graduate and recipient of the Air Training Command Commanders Trophy. As a C-141 aircraft commander, he participated in several historic military operations including Operations Babylift in Vietnam in 1975; Operation Team Spirit in Korean in 1978; and Operation Desert One in Iran in 1979. He retired from active duty in August 2001 and was awarded the Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster.

He has a Bachelor of Science degree in meteorology from the Florida State University and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from Auburn University. He is also a graduate of the Joint Services General Officer Capstone Course, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, the Air Command and Staff College, and the Squadron Officer School.

Marshal Ward is Founder and CEO of Aloha Spirit Consulting LLC, a Space and Defense Consulting company headquartered in Bedford, New Hampshire and is on the Board of Advisors for the Rogue Space Systems Corporation of Laconia, New Hampshire.

Mr. Ivan Rios is currently a senior physical security professional, a military veteran, and a retired DEA Supervisory Special Agent with over 30 years of experience in protective security, intelligence, military, and law enforcement. He served with the DEA in the Caribbean, Office of Training in Quantico, Washington, DC, and Baltimore, and was a team leader in the DEA Executive Protection Detail, protecting the DEA Administrator domestically and internationally. Mr. Rios served in the DEA Special Response Team and the Quick Reaction Team and executed hundreds of high-risk operations. He also became a DEA Firearms, Tactical, Defensive Tactics, and TEVOC Instructor. Mr. Rios was a board member of the National Capital Region SWAT Association and conducted dozens of Combative classes for SWAT teams throughout the Capitol region, and overseas. In addition, he led numerous drug trafficking investigations. One of the investigations was achieved by intercepting Spanish e-mail communication, which he translated, and led to the extradition of several individuals from Panama. 

Furthermore, he taught many tactical courses in foreign countries, including Afghanistan, Thailand, Spain, and the Dominican Republic. In his final assignment with the DEA, he was the DEA Baltimore Strike Force supervisor. The DEA Strike Force was the lead group focused on violent gang investigations in Baltimore. Before joining DEA, he served in the U.S. Navy as a Special Boat Team operator (Maritime Special Operations) and in the Army National Guard as an intelligence officer. He is a veteran of Desert Shield/Storm. Mr. Rios is also a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Krav Maga 3rd-degree black belt, Kenpo 5th-degree black belt, 1st-degree black belt in TKD, 4th-degree black belt in Japanese Jujitsu, holds a BS and MA in Criminal Justice Management, and a 3 Gun competitive shooter.

Rodney Young began his law enforcement career as Washington, DC Police Officer and operated in uniform patrol, plain clothes crime suppression, counter narcotics, and district motorcycle patrol.  Mr. Young then moved on to The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) where he served as a Special Agent in Miami, Florida, Assistant Country Attaché in Quito Ecuador - South America, Assistant Country Attaché in Lagos Nigeria, a Special Agent in Washington, DC and finally a Special Agent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he retired after twenty-five years of service.  As a DEA Special Agent, in addition to investigative responsibilities, Mr. Young was a certified DEA instructor and taught courses for DEA Domestically, in South America and Africa and has coordinated training and instructed more than two thousand agents, police officers, civilians, and military personnel.  Mr. Young instructed courses in Surveillance Counter Surveillance, Undercover Operations, Interview Interrogation, Report Writing, Drug Identification, Telephone Exploitation, and Intelligence Gathering.

Currently, Rodney Young is a Prince Georges County Maryland high school Spanish language teacher.  Rodney has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Spanish language and attended Illinois State university.  Mr. Young is a native of Chicago and resides in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area.

When she sustained a serious line-of-duty injury, she retired from field work, went back to school, and reinvented herself as a curriculum developer. Since 2005, she has served as a consultant to the State of Maryland, FBI, and DEA on instructor training and innovative curriculum design. In 2010, she published her groundbreaking book, Dynamic Police Training, which demystified the curriculum development process for law enforcement. Since then, she has authored nearly a dozen other books with a concentration on police training, tactics, and history, including the internationally-respected Officer Down series. She brings a passion for learning, growth, and peak performance to the team at Tactical 52 and looks forward to meeting you in the classroom soon.