Board Director
Adjunct Professor, Ole Miss Center for Intelligence and Security Studies
Retired Navy Rear Admiral Jamie Barnett is an Adjunct Professor in the Ole Miss Center for Intelligence and Security Studies, teaching national security and leadership courses. A surface warfare officer, he served 32 years in the United States Navy and Navy Reserve, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral and serving as Deputy Commander, Navy Expeditionary Combat Command during the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. His first flag assignment was Director of Naval Education and Training in the Pentagon.
He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Mississippi, where he was elected President of the Associated Student Body, was named to the Hall of Fame and received his Navy commission. After returning to the University after shipboard duty, he taught Naval ROTC and started law school at Ole Miss, where he was named the Dean Parhan Williams Outstanding Student and Chairman of the Moot Court Board. He also served the Interim Director of the Jordan Center for Journalism Advocacy and Innovation.
Among other personal awards, he has received four Legion of Merit medals. After retiring from the Navy, Admiral Barnett served as the Chief of the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). After leaving government service, he became the Chair of the Telecommunications Group of a Washington, D.C.-based law firm called Venable, LLP, and he was named a Top Lawyer in DC for Cybersecurity by Washingtonian Magazine for 2015. He has served as an executive for satellite companies and defense contractors. Rear Admiral Barnett is a Senior Fellow of the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies and a Fellow and former President of the American College of National Security Leaders.