Dwight Shepherd
US Navy officer (born c. 1961)
Rear Admiral Dwight Shepherd (born c. 1961) is a retired United States Navy officer and career Naval Flight Officer who last served as Director of Cyberspace Operations, J6, at U.S. Northern Command/ North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from June 2014 to August 2016. Before that, he served as Director of Manpower and Personnel, J1, on the Joint Staff from June 2012 to June 2014 and as the Senior Military Assistant to the Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus, from April 2011 to June 2012.
Early life and education
Shepherd is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1983, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, majoring in Marketing. He also earned a Master of Science in 2006 from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), in National Resource Strategy.
Military career
Shepherd was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy in June 1984 and earned his Naval Flight Officer wings in July 1985.
Shepherd's operational command tours include Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 3 (VQ-3), the Navy’s largest aviation squadron. His major command was Strategic Communications Wing One and Task Force 124. He was the first black officer to command a "take charge and move out" (TACAMO) squadron and air wing.
His operational tours include Patrol Special Projects Unit (VPU) 2 (Avionics Division Officer), VQ-3 (Naval Air Training and Operating Procedures (NATOPS), flight officer and maintenance officer), and Commander Task Force 70/75/Carrier Strike Group 5 (N6/IWC), Yokosuka, Japan, aboard USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63).
“Dwight Shepherd” enters the record as uS Navy officer (born c. 1961). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Dwight, Shepherd and Navy can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Dwight Shepherd” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Dwight, Shepherd and Navy provides the most credible route into that argument.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q104819167. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1961, 2014, 2016 and 2012.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Dwight Shepherd”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Dwight Shepherd primary sources, Dwight Shepherd archive and Dwight research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Dwight Shepherd”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Dwight Shepherd” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.