Hal Bidlack

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Hal Bidlack, Lt. Col. (Ret.) USAF

Hal Bidlack, Lt. Colonel (Ret.) USAF, is the 2008 Democratic Party's presumed candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, running in Colorado's 5th Congressional District. The 5th District includes the counties of Chaffee, El Paso, Fremont, Lake, Park, and Teller, with a total population of 614,467.^[1] The Colorado Democratic Party is headquartered in Denver. Bidlack has resided in El Paso County since 1988.

Lt. Col. Bidlack’s likely Republican Party (GOP) opponent in the General Election is the 5th District incumbent, first-term Congressman Doug Lamborn. Lamborn was not endorsed by his ten-term GOP predecessor, Congressman Joel Hefley^[2], and was elected amid controversy in November, 2006.^[3]

Lamborn’s candidacy is being challenged by two others^[4], whom he will face in the Republican primary.^[5] The Colorado Republican Party will hold its primary election in August, 2008.

1 Personal background
2 Military career and education
3 White House duty assignments
4 State Department duty assignment
5 Specific military titles assignments
6 Air Force Academy service
7 Military awards
8 Education
9 Bidlack's expertise on Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers
10 Presentations and articles
- 10.1 Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy announcement
11 Hal Bidlack: Democratic candidate for Congress
12 References
13 External links

[edit] Personal background

Bidlack was born in Michigan, in 1958, and he resided there until his graduation from the University of Michigan in 1980. Beginning in 1981, he served 25 years as an officer in the United States Air Force, retiring in September of 2006 at the rank of Lt. Colonel. Bidlack lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he and his late wife, Martha, raised their three children. Martha Bidlack died of cancer in 2003.

In Colorado Springs, Bidlack was active as a coach in community youth football and baseball programs. His son is currently a law student; his older daughter is a college senior in Colorado; his younger daughter is a college sophomore in Colorado.

Bidlack’s hobbies are fitness and road cycling in Colorado Springs, one of America’s cycling centers, and the home of the U.S. Olympic Team Training Center^[6] and USA Cycling^[7].

[edit] Military career and education

Bidlack on duty as USAF Military Police Officer, U.S. Air Force Academy, 2006

Hal Bidlack entered the military, through the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Michigan, as a Second Lieutenant. Over the next 25 years he served in the Minuteman Missile program in Wyoming, first in operations and then as a nuclear-missile and weapons-systems commander and instructor. Bidlack began his service at the Air Force Academy in 1988.

Over the course of three AFA positions, totaling 18 years, he advanced to Lt. Colonel. Bidlack also served as a U.S.A.F. Security Forces military police officer at the Academy.

[edit] White House duty assignments

In 1997 and 1999, Bidlack served rotations in the Clinton Administration. He was Director of Global Environmental Policy, on the staff of the National Security Council. His primary duties were to assist the senior Director in drafting speeches and writing background papers for the President and Vice President, and conducting research for the National Security Advisor. Bidlack held a security clearance of Sensitive Compartmented Information, or TS/SCI^[8].

[edit] State Department duty assignment

Bidlack was assigned to the Bush Administration’s State Department in 2001. His service there included work with classified nuclear-weapons security in the former Soviet States. As Deputy Director of Security Programs and Military Advisor, Bidlack again had a security clearance of TS/SCI.

It was his work at the State Department that led to Bidlack being in the Pentagon on the morning of September 11th, 2001. With other military personnel, Bidlack assisted in the difficult tasks necessitated by the terrorist attack on the Pentagon.

[edit] Specific military titles assignments

Military Police Officer, U.S. Air Force Security Forces.
Commander, Deputy Commander, and Instructor, Minuteman III ICBM weapons system.
Deputy Director, U.S. Air Force Institute for National Security Studies.
Director of Global Environmental Affairs, the National Security Council  (White House). Military Security Clearance: TS/SCI.^[9]
Action Officer, Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (Pentagon).
Deputy Director of Security Programs and Military Advisor,  Office of the Coordinator of U.S. Assistance to the Former Soviet States  (State Department). Security Clearance: TS/SCI.
Senior Mentor, Air Force Academy.
Chief, Core Course Division, Air Force Academy.
Chief, Comparative Politics and Foreign Area Studies Division, Air Force Academy.
Director of Educational Technology, Air Force Academy.
Director of Personnel, Air Force Academy.
Executive Officer to the Dean, Air Force Academy.

[edit] Air Force Academy service

The US Air Force Academy shield

During Bidlack’s tenure at the Air Force Academy, his positions in the Political Science Department included Instructor, Associate Professor, Course Director, and Division Chief.

His subject areas included the U.S. government & national security; international relations; national security policy; the U.S. judicial system; the Supreme Court; the presidency; the U.S. Congress; environmental politics; and environmental security. Bidlack has particular expertise in public policy, the presidency, the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers. Following his retirement from the Air Force, the Academy asked Bidlack to return as a civilian professor for the 2007-08 academic year.

[edit] Military awards

Meritorious Service Medal with two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters.
Air Force Commendation Medal with one Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster.
Combat Readiness Medal.
National Defense Service Medal with one Bronze Star.
Humanitarian Service Medal.
Air Force Achievement Medal.
Force Protection Badge.
Global War on Terrorism Service Medal.

[edit] Education

Bidlack received undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan; his doctorate is in Political Science, with a focus on American National Government and Environmental Security issues. Bidlack’s three degrees are a B.A. in Political Science and Minor in Economics (1980); an MA in Political Science (1987); a Ph.D. (1996).^[10]

[edit] Bidlack's expertise on Alexander Hamilton and the Founding Fathers

Since 1996, Bidlack has appeared before audiences — on radio and in live performances — portraying Alexander Hamilton in one-man period stage performances. He has made presentations throughout the country, has been called “the nation’s premier Alexander Hamilton scholar,” and is “critically acclaimed as the nation’s leading Hamilton theatrical performer.”^[11]

His audiences have included Congressional Families’ Night at the Smithsonian Institution, the Kennedy Center Imagination Celebration^[12], the National Defense Industrial Association, the National Museum of U.S. History^[13], the American Foreign Service Officers Association ^[14], the Virginia District Court Clerks^[15], the Parker Colorado Public Schools, the Fremont Colorado County Government^[16], the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management ^[17], the State Library of Ohio^[18], and others^[19].

As Hamilton, Bidlack’s performances are spontaneous, unscripted presentations. Each is followed by audience questions on any subject from any time period, answered in character as Hamilton. Bidlack’s appearances have also included debates with “Thomas Jefferson,” televised nationally by C-SPAN^[20], and as a guest on public radio’s The Jefferson Hour. Bidlack’s study of the U.S. Constitution and the Founding Fathers led to his particular interest in the life and times of Alexander Hamilton.

[edit] Presentations and articles

Bidlack lecturing at the International Conference for Critical Thinking, 2006

Presenter, International Conference for Critical Thinking, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006.
Alexander Hamilton performances and presentations throughout U.S., 1996-2008.
“The Impact of Global Climate Change on National and International Security,” Department of Defense Policy Paper, 1998.
“Interagency Cooperation on Environmental Security: The White House Perspective,” U.S. Air Force Institute for National Security Issues Policy Paper, 1998.^[21]
“The Wakeup Call,” The Windstar Journal, 1989.
Global Warming and National Security – Presentation to the Colorado/Wyoming Political Science Association, 1997.
Global Warming and National Security – Presentation to the Colorado Council on International Organizations, 1997.
USAF Institute for National Security Studies – Program Chair, Environmental Policy Panel, 1997.

[edit] Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy announcement

In 2003, the tragic loss of Space Shuttle Columbia occurred as Bidlack was preparing to address the International Conference for Critical Thinking in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The hosts of the conference asked him to make the announcement to the audience. Bidlack’s remarks were impromptu.

Transcript of Bidlack’s announcement:

...I want you to listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you. The space shuttle Columbia was lost a few minutes ago. At 200,000 feet over Texas, NASA lost contact and images from the ground show the shuttle breaking up and impact is reported north of Dallas.

Now listen to me. I'm a career military officer. This is a tragedy. But these people were doing exactly what they wanted to do, in exactly the place they wanted to be. When Dave Scott set foot on the moon on Apollo XV he said, "Man's fundamental nature is to explore, and this is exploration at its greatest." Gus Grissom gave an interview a week before the fire on Apollo I and he said, "if there's an accident, for God's sake, don't let it stop the program." This is a tragedy, but they understood, and that's what we do in the military.

We're going to take an hour break. We've got TVs in the lobby. We're going to try to put a signal into this TV, and of course you can go up to your rooms if you wish. And in an hour, let's call it 11:30, that's an hour and 15, we're going to continue the conference because I believe that it would be an insult to their memory to deny this audience the information that we want to give it. We can mourn, and we shall, but with dignity and grace, and remember that the space program is an amazing thing. I know astronauts. They were where they wanted to be.

[edit] Hal Bidlack: Democratic candidate for Congress

Hal Bidlack

Hal Bidlack is the second Bidlack Democrat to run for Congress. The first was his ancestor, Benjamin Alden Bidlack, elected to the 27th and 28th Congresses in the 1840s. In statements on his campaign’s website^[22], Bidlack describes the role of government as protector of “the rights of all Americans,” and that its goals must be “to remain fiscally responsible, to protect citizens’ Constitutional rights to privacy, to protect the economic health of the country, and to work tirelessly to ensure all Americans are safe and secure in their homes and communities.”

According to the website, Bidlack says that he is a candidate for Congress because he is “committed to being part of the change this nation both yearns for and vitally needs. The mismanagement and arrogance of recent years have made this nation less secure, less safe, less respected, and less fiscally responsible. The future is bright, if our leaders act responsibly and with vision.”