Brad Cooper (admiral)
U.S. Navy admiral (born 1967)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Charles Bradford Cooper II (born 1967) is an American admiral who has served as the commander of the United States Central Command since 2025. He most recently served as its deputy commander from 2024 to 2025, and before that was commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. Fifth Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces from 2021 to 2024. He has led U.S. forces in combat operations during the Red Sea crisis and the 2026 Iran war.
1967 (age 58–59)
Brad Cooper | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2025 | |
| Born | Charles Bradford Cooper II 1967 (age 58–59) |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Navy |
| Service years | 1989–present |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands | United States Central Command United States Naval Forces Central Command United States Fifth Fleet Naval Surface Force Atlantic Expeditionary Strike Group 7 United States Naval Forces Korea USS Gettysburg (CG-64) USS Russell (DDG-59) |
| Conflicts | |
| Awards | Navy Distinguished Service Medal Defense Superior Service Medal (2) Legion of Merit (5) Bronze Star Medal |
| Alma mater | United States Naval Academy (BS) National Intelligence University (MS) United States Army Command and General Staff College Harvard University Tufts University |
| Spouse | Susan Cooper[1] |
Cooper graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1989. A career surface warfare officer, his commands included a destroyer, a cruiser, U.S. Naval Forces Korea, and Expeditionary Strike Group 7. He has been deployed during combat operations in the Gulf War and the lead-up to the Iraq War; the Yugoslav Wars; and the war in Afghanistan. Cooper served in the Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan while an advisor to the Afghan government, the Navy Personnel Command, U.S. Africa Command, and the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Other senior posts that he held include Chief of Legislative Affairs of the United States Navy from 2019 to 2020 and Commander, Naval Surface Force Atlantic, from 2020 to 2021.
In June 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that Cooper was President Donald Trump's nominee for commander of the United States Central Command. Cooper is the first Navy admiral to hold the post since William J. Fallon in 2008.
Early life and education
Charles Bradford Cooper II[2] was born in 1967[3] and is the son of a U.S. Army officer.[4] He attended Sidney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a 1989 graduate of the United States Naval Academy,[2] where he obtained a bachelor of science degree in economics.[1] Cooper later earned a master's degree in strategic intelligence from the National Intelligence University,[5] and also studied National Security Policy and International Relations at Harvard and Tufts Universities.[4] He is also a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College.[1]
Military career
A career surface warfare officer, he served on guided-missile cruisers, guided-missile destroyers, aircraft carriers, and amphibious assault ships.[4] Cooper's assignments included as the CIC officer on USS Thomas S. Gates (CG 51), operations officer of the USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62) and USS Anzio (CG 68), and executive officer of the USS Vicksburg (CG 69).[1] He was also the flag aide to the commander of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group.[1] His ship commands were USS Russell (DDG 59) and USS Gettysburg (CG 64).[4] During his tenure as commanding officer of Gettysburg, the ship and its crew won the 2013 Battenberg Cup, recognizing it as the best vessel in the United States Fleet Forces Command, the Navy's Atlantic fleet. Cooper was awarded the Legion of Merit for his accomplishments as Gettysburg's captain.[6]
Among his deployments were Operation Desert Storm; three counter-narcotics operations off the coast of South America; the enforcement of the no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina and operations in the buildup to the Kosovo War; Haitian migrant operations; a deployment in the Western Pacific; three maritime interdiction operations in the Persian Gulf against Saddam Hussein's Iraq; a deployment to the Arabian Sea after the 9/11 attacks; and the war in Afghanistan.[1]
Ashore, he served in a variety of executive, military assistant, and special assistant roles in the White House, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, U.S. Africa Command, and U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters.[4] These included special assistant to the Commander, U.S. Africa Command; division chief for strategic reform of the Afghan Police and Border Guards while assigned to Combined Security Transition Command, Afghanistan; and flag aide to the Commander, U.S. Pacific Fleet.[1] He also served as principal U.S. Advisor to the Interior Minister of Afghanistan[4] and both Deputy Director[1] and Director, Surface Warfare Officer assignments (Pers-41),[4] at Navy Personnel Command.[1]
As a flag officer, he served as the chief of legislative affairs, leading the Navy's engagement with the U.S. Congress. His other assignments include commander of Naval Surface Force Atlantic, in which he launched new initiatives to expand mental healthcare access for sailors and improve fleet-wide readiness; commander of Expeditionary Strike Group 7 in Okinawa, Japan, where he led the U.S. military's first F-35 deployment; and commander of U.S. Naval Forces Korea. During this tour, his sailors were honored with the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, the first such recognition of a Navy unit since the Korean War.[4] During his tenure as commander of Naval Forces Korea, Cooper was bestowed the Korean name Goo Tae-il[a][b] by the ROK-US Alliance Friendship Association in honor of his service to the Korean peninsula.[7]
In April 2021, he was nominated for promotion to vice admiral and the position in Bahrain of commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command; commander of U.S. Fifth Fleet; and commander of Combined Maritime Forces.[8][9] Cooper took office on 5 May 2021.[10] During this tour, he significantly expanded multi-national maritime partnerships, established the Navy's first unmanned and artificial intelligence Task Force, and led multiple real world operations countering Iranian and Houthi malign activity throughout the Middle East, including operations Prosperity Guardian and Poseidon Archer in the southern Red Sea.[5] He was in charge of U.S. naval forces in Middle Eastern waters when Operation Prosperity Guardian began in December 2023 to defend merchant ships from attacks by the Houthis in Yemen,[11] and played a central role in the operation.[12]
In April 2023, Cooper was nominated for reappointment as vice admiral and assignment as the deputy commander of United States Central Command.[13][8] He took office in February 2024.[14] That same month, he told the media that the actions against the Houthis represent the largest and most intense operation of the U.S. Navy since World War II.[15] During 2024 Cooper organized the U.S. military's maritime corridor that briefly increased the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.[12]
CENTCOM commander
,_Commander_of_United_States_Central_Command_in_Tampa,_Florida_on_August_8,_2025_(cropped).jpg)
In June 2025, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced that Cooper was president Donald Trump's nominee for commander of the United States Central Command.[16] Cooper was selected by the Trump administration over Army general James Mingus, who had been expected to receive the position,[14] in what was interpreted as a prioritization of naval operations ahead of a potential confrontation with Iran and the ongoing mission against the Houthis. Cooper is a critic of Iran and a supporter of Israel, like his predecessor Michael Kurilla.[12] At his nomination hearing, Cooper said that the U.S. should maintain its military presence in Syria as part of the war against the Islamic State, and should work with the Syrian transitional government against ISIS.[17] On 8 August 2025, he succeeded Kurilla as commander of Central Command,[18] becoming the first naval officer to hold the post since William J. Fallon in 2008, as it was traditionally held by Army or Marine generals.[12]
In September 2025, Cooper visited Damascus, where he met with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa and U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack to discuss cooperation on counter-Islamic State operations and future U.S.–Syrian engagement.[19] On 21 January 2026, Cooper spoke by phone with al-Sharaa regarding the ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) amid the northeastern Syria offensive and coordination on the transfer of Islamic State detainees from Syria to Iraq.[20] The next day, Cooper met with SDF commander-in-chief Mazloum Abdi, along with Tom Barrack, in Erbil to discuss implementation, integration, and ongoing U.S. support for the ceasefire.[21] On 24 January, he visited Tel Aviv, holding meetings with Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir and other senior officials to reinforce close strategic military cooperation amid a broader U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.[22]
On 6 February 2026, Cooper took part in the indirect negotiations between Iran and the United States that were held in Muscat, Oman, along with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.[23] On 26 February, Cooper and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine briefed Donald Trump on military options with regard to Iran.[24] Cooper began the U.S. strikes on Iran on 28 February on the order of Trump.[25][26] On the first day, he stated that the goal of CENTCOM's operation was to dismantle the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.[27] Cooper also wrote a letter addressed to U.S. troops in the Middle East, telling them that they will "change the course of human history."[28] Cooper and his team spent the weeks before the attack identifying targets in Iran that enabled it to project power beyond its borders.[29] He issued an update on the operation on 3 March, claiming to have eliminated the Iranian Navy.[30] On 5 March he said the next phase of the war would be targeting Iran's missile production capacity.[31] Cooper confirmed on 11 March that the military is using artificial intelligence tools in the war, but said that "humans will always make final decisions" on targeting.[32]
Awards and decorations
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Personal life
He is married to Susan, who is a speech-language pathologist, and they have two children.[1]
Cooper was briefly a fellow of the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.[1]
