Foster Reed

**Foster Reed** is a United States Army soldier and intelligence analyst. Born in 1994, he was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Graduating from Monte Vista High School in 2010, Foster was accepted into University of California, Berkeley and spent one-year studying Computer Science before leaving and enlisting into the United States Army in the winter of 2012. Foster trained to become a Signals Intelligence Analyst and joined the 75th Ranger Regiment by 2013, serving as a Special Operations Signals Intelligence Analyst.

For three years, Foster served in a Operational Signals Intelligence Team for the 1st Ranger Battalion. He was accepted into the Great Skill Program in 2016 and completed his training by 2017 where he was attached to the Intelligence Community and other clandestine military units for five years. Foster completed selection and an operator training course to join Task Force Orange in 2023 where he was assigned to a Special Missions Unit under Joint Special Operations Command.

## Biography

### Military Career

* Fort Jackson, South Carolina - Goodfellows Air Force Base, Texas - Fort Benning, Georgia - Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia
* Fort Meade, Maryland - Presidio of Monterey, California - Warrenton Training Center, Virginia
* Fort Belvoir, Virginia

Joining the 1st Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia, Foster was assigned to a Operational SIGINT Team and assigned to Battalion Headquarters S-2 to conduct field SIGINT missions. He deployed to support Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan in 2013 to support Village Stability Operations and conducting collection operations around their assigned Area of Operations. Under a Special Operations Task Force, he worked alongside other special operations SIGINT units across the country in sustaining a digital intelligence network. He completed another deployment to Afghanistan between 2014 and 2015 to support Operation Freedom's Sentinel along with another in late 2015 and into 2016. Foster rose within the team as a brilliant SIGINT analyst who collaborated in a joint environment with other SOF assets. His three deployments to Afghanistan were fast paced and forced him to adapt in an evolving battlespace.

After completing Ranger School in 2014, Foster attempted selection for the Ranger Reconnaissance Company but medically withdrew due to an injury in 2016. He was offered to join the Special Missions Unit in a support role but Foster denied the offer to become a Team Leader of a SIGINT Team. Instead, he learned about the Great Skill Program through his mentor, a former graduate of the program. Foster was encouraged to apply, where he was accepted and attended selection in the National Capitol Region to go on and completed an individualized specialization course across the United States. He graduated in 2017 and was assigned to the Army Field Support Agency at Fort Meade, Maryland. Under Great Skill, Foster was attached to numerous special projects and classified units within the Intelligence Community.

He deployed to support Joint Special Operations Task Force—Trans Sahara where he targeted the Islamic State - West Africa Province and the Greater Sahara across western Africa. Foster often ran solo SIGINT operations to develop target packages and locate High-Value Targets in 2017. Foster then deployed to Syria and was attached to Special Operations Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve to support target development across Syria. He was then assigned to the Special Collection Service, Special Operations Division where he supported operations in Indonesia, Turkey, and Italy through US Embassies and CIA safehouses established overseas. Foster was part of an interagency team tracking ISIL sleeper cells and the recruitment of foreign fighters around the world.

In 2021, Foster was attached to a NSA Special Signal Collection Unit known as MUSKETEER under Special Source Operations and deployed to Pakistan where he conducted clandestine operations against the Government of Pakistan during the withdrawal of American troops in Afghanistan. He later supported Operation Allies Refuge and moved into Kabul, Afghanistan where he started tracking officials of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Returning to the United States, Foster attended a Skills Evaluation Detachment selection in the National Capitol Region and later completed a year-long Operator Training Course across the United States to join the 1st Capabilities Integration Group (A), the premier Special Missions Unit conducting intelligence operations for the Department of Defense.

By 2023, Foster deployed to support Operation Rainmaker in the Sahel by targeting Russian-backed paramilitary groups, violent extremist organizations and high-value targets. He rotated into Sudan to provide on-the-ground intelligence and joined an interagency team conducting special reconnaissance for the embassy extraction. Later, Foster supported a strategic operation in South Africa during the 15th BRICS Summit and ran operations in infiltrating closed networks. He supported a covert surveillance mission over the South China Sea aboard a CIA Special Activities Center Air Department aircraft. He was attached to a 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta troop during Operation Blackadder in Ukraine and then to an advance team into Central Asia during the New Year's Offensive.

## Gallery

Foster during Operation Bloodhound, 2025.