Matthew Collins, United States Marine Corps Veteran, America's Founding Fathers: A Legacy of Service,honoring veterans, especially 9/11 children left behind. A heartfelt call to appreciate those who served.

Matt Collins, a Marine veteran and father, shares his family's multigenerational legacy of service from his grandfather's Army days to his dad's transformative GI Bill journey in Germany, inspiring Matt's path to the Naval Academy and to Afghanistan. He teaches his daughters (ages 4 and 2) to cherish freedoms through museum visits and stories of interpreters who served endlessly. Amid poverty abroad, he urges gratitude for America's blessings, time with loved ones, and honoring veterans, especially 9/11 children left behind. A heartfelt call to appreciate those who served.

Matt Collins is a national security professional with more than two decades of experience as a Marine Corps intelligence officer, Department of the Army official, and defense contractor. He has deployed to dozens of countries and served in combat zones across Africa and the Middle East.

As a Marine, he served with 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the British Army, including a tour on the Liberian border during that country's civil war. He deployed to the Helmand Province of Afghanistan as a sociocultural researcher with the Department of the Army. He spent nearly a decade as an executive with Northrop Grumman.

In 2018, Matt launched a tech column covering artificial intelligence for Task & Purpose, writing for two-time Pulitzer winner Tom Ricks. He currently serves as a policy consultant with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where he co-authored the Intelligence Community's current AI strategy and helped develop the IC's foundational policy on artificial intelligence.

Matt is a published and cited author on strategy, intelligence, and veterans' issues, with work appearing in Foreign Policy, Task & Purpose, and peer-reviewed journals. He has appeared on nationally syndicated radio and been interviewed by BuzzFeed, USA Today, and Military Times. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, St Louis University, and Georgetown. He is an Adjunct Professor of Geography at George Washington University.