Born in New York City, Rear Adm. Paul Becker attended Long Island’s Deer Park High School and was commissioned an intelligence officer upon graduation from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1983. He holds a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government (2001) and diplomas from the Defense Language Institute (1991), the Naval Command and Staff College (1993) and Armed Forces Staff College (1996).

Flag assignments include director of intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, director for intelligence with United States Pacific Command in Hawaii, vice director of Intelligence for the Joint Chiefs of Staff and director of Intelligence for the International Security Assistance Force Joint Command in Afghanistan.

Significant afloat assignments include intelligence officer with Attack Squadron (VA) 35 (A6E/Intruder) aboard USS Nimitz (CVN 68); temporary assignment aboard battleship, USS Iowa (BB 61); intelligence operations officer for the United States 6th Fleet aboard cruiser USS Belknap (CG 26); and director of intelligence (N2) with Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 7 aboard USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).

Shore assignments include: analyst at the Chief of Naval Operations Intelligence Plot; flag aide to the director of Naval Intelligence; intelligence branch/assignments officer at the Bureau of Personnel; federal executive fellow at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy; the American Embassy in Paris as the assistant U.S. naval attaché; temporary assignment with the American Embassy in Skopje, Macedonia, as the assistant defense attaché (during Operation Allied Force); and the director of operations at the Joint Intelligence Center Pacific, Hawaii.

In addition to service in Afghanistan from 2009 to 2010, his duty with U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) since 9/11 includes: commanding officer of CENTCOM’s Joint Intelligence Center in Tampa, Florida, from 2007 to 2009; N2 for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command in Bahrain from 2005 to 2007; intelligence watch officer in the Combined Air Operations Center at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in 2003 during early Iraqi Freedom operations; and N2 for the U.S. Navy’s Task Force 50 in the Northern Arabian Sea from 2001 to 2002 during early Enduring Freedom operations.

Becker is the recipient of the National Intelligence Community’s and Department of Defense’s Distinguished Service Medals, National Military Intelligence Association’s Taylor Award for Leadership, the U.S. Army’s Knowlton Award for Military Intelligence, the Office of Naval Intelligence’s Layton Award for Leadership and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.