Dense Urban & Subterranean Cell (DUSC)

Major General (Retired) John Wharton is Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of the NCUO. He completed 34 years of service in uniform as Commander of the Army’s Research Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM). His commands include, among many others, the Army’s Sustainment Command, Commanding General US Army Central G4, and premier sustainment roles with the 101st Airborne, 82nd Airborne, 10th Mountain Division, and 25th Infantry Division. John holds degrees from the United States Military Academy and Naval War College. Within the NCUO, John places special emphasis on material solutions to the challenges of urban operations.

Colonel (Retired) Patrick Mahaney is co-founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NCUO, adjunct professor at Columbia University, and a Senior Advisor to the Department of Defense National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) capabilities accelerator. Pat has served over thirty years in uniform, nine combat tours, and commanded the US Army Asymmetric Warfare Group and 1st Battalion, 7th Special Forces Group in combat, among others. He holds degrees from New York, Columbia, and Perugia (Italy) Universities. His vision and persistence while the Director of the Chief of Staff of the Army’s Strategic Studies Group (CSA SSG) resulted in the Army’s Dense Urban & Subterranean Community of Practice Assembly (DUST COPA), AWG’s Dense Urban Terrain Detachment, HQDA’s Dense Urban Studies Strategic Broadening Seminar, and the DOD’s Megacity Conference Series among other initiatives.

Sergeant Major (Retired) Joseph Vega is the Deputy Director for the NCUO and former Detachment Lead of the Asymmetric Warfare Group’s Subterranean Operations Cell (SubTOC). Joe has spent more than thirty years as a warfighter, serving at every rank of enlisted Soldier: first as a Ranger, then a Green Beret, and finally as an Operator with Special Forces Operational Detachment Delta (SFOD-D). Joe has deployed multiple times to Panama, Colombia, Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, to name a few; is a qualified SFOD-D heavy master breacher with experience breaching the world’s most sophisticated obstacles; has trained over thirty Brigade Combat Teams, Ranger Battalions, and Special Forces Groups in the tactics, techniques, and considerations of hard target defeat and subterranean combat; and is one of the principal authors of the Army’s Training Publication 3-21.51 Subterranean Operations (2019).

Lieutenant Colonel Brian Higgins is the US Army Fellow with the NCUO and an Infantry Officer with 22 years of service and multiple deployments currently serving as the Interagency Coordination Chief with Task force 46. TF 46 is a deployable National Guard element that provides mission command of military response forces in support of civilian responders in order to manage catastrophic chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) incidents. Previously, Brian served as the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) Dense Urban Terrain Detachment Officer in Charge focused on the expansion of urban efforts  across  the DOTMLPF-P framework out of New York City.  In addition to his military service, Brian has over 19 years in uniform with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) where he is a Detective assigned to the Emergency Service Unit (ESU) of the Special Operations Division. His most recent assignment within ESU was with the Apprehension Tactical Team, executing hundreds of high-risk search warrants citywide on an annual basis. Brian is a graduate of Marist College and earned a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from The John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

Master Sergeant (Retired) Jose Gordon is the Senior Operational Advisor with the NCUO and actively works to generate irregular warfare solutions to address capability gaps during subterranean operations (SbTO). He spent his career in uniform leading Rangers in the 75th Ranger Regiment, fighting in Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Bosnia, and Afghanistan in over 25 deployments. During this time, he helped develop the Army’s current doctrine for subterranean maneuver and specialized progressive breaching. After retirement, he continued to serve in the Asymmetric Warfare Group (AWG) under then Colonel Patrick Mahaney, leading operational advisors to improve combat proficiency of Soldiers across the joint force. While in AWG, he trained every one of the Army’s twenty-eight Brigade Combat Teams in subterranean maneuver operations. Through NCUO, he remains actively involved improving the proficiency of Rangers and Green Berets in confined space clearance.

Stephanie Mahaney is the National Center for Urban Operations’ Research Fellow. She holds a Master’s in Public Policy from Columbia’s School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA).

NYPD Lieutenant (Retired) Art Mogil is the NCUO’s Law Enforcement Fellow. He is a recently retired Special Forces Engineer and actively serving as a research, development, technology & engineering (RDT&E) advisor for the 75th Innovation Command and Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) of Army Futures Command. He has deployed to Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and with Defense Intelligence Agency’s Joint Interagency Task Force
(JITF)- Counterterrorism (CT) Weapons Branch in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Art retired after 23 years from his full time job with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in 2020, sixteen of which were spent in the Counterterrorism Division. Within, he served as a supervisor, section chief in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear explosives (CBRNE), and subsequently in the special projects division. His work focused on solution development for weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and unmanned aerial systems (UAS) detection, recognition, and mitigation.

Clay is the inaugural F. T. Aquilino 9/11 Memorial Fellow with the NCUO and actively works to generate irregular warfare solutions to address tactical offensive capability gaps. He continues to serve in the Army as a Special Operations Airborne Ranger-qualified Mission Leader, with experience leading in the US Army 75th Ranger Regiment and training Special Forces as an Irregular Warfare Officer. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering from Princeton University and a Master’s degree in Counterterrorism and Substate Violence Prevention from Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.