Please join the 786 Club as we welcome Captain John McGunnigle (USN, Retired), one the U.S. Navy’s foremost experts in Artificial Intelligence (AI). After a most distinguished career in the Submarine Force, Captain McGunnigle continues to serve his nation by helping the U.S. Navy and its Submarine Force apply Artificial Intelligence to its already highly technical operations. His presentation is entitled, “Applied Artificial Intelligence in the U.S. Navy—An Unclassified Discussion on How the Submarine Force is Using AI.”

The mission of the 786 Club is to support to the families and crew of the USS ILLINOIS (SSN-786), a Virginia Class Fast Attack nuclear submarine homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, over the 35-year life of the boat. It also supports all other submarines in Pearl Harbor with a dinner-dance during its visits to Pearl Harbor.

Cost: $40.00 | Dress Code: Smart Casual

Captain John McGunnigle is a native of Boston, Massechusetts. He graduated with distinction from the United States Naval Academy in 1992 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and subsequently earned a Master of Science degree in Operations Analysis from Naval Postgraduate School.

After Completing Nuclear Power and Submarine Officer Training, he reported to the USS NEW YORK CITY (SSN-696) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, where he served as a Junior Officer from January 1994 to April 1997. His subsequent sea tours include assignment as Defueling Officer on the USS GROTON (SSN-694) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire from April to November 1997; Navigator/Operations Officer on the USS WYOMING (SSBN-742) (BLUE) in Kings Bay, Georgia from August 2000 to August 2003; Executive Officer on the USS JIMMY CARTER (SSN-23) in Bangor, Washington from September 2005 to June 2007; and Commanding Officer on the USS NEW HAMPSHIRE (SSN-778) in Groton, Connecticut from March 2010 to December 2012. Captain McGunnigle served as the Post Command Deputy at Submarine Development Squadron TWELVE in Groton, Connecticut from August 2014 to July 2015 and served as the Commander, Submarine Squadron FOUR in Groton, Connecticut from August 2015 to April 2017.

Captain McGunnigle completed two Western Pacific deployments, two Eastern Pacific deployments, and an Inter-Fleet Transfer on the USS NEW YORK CITY (SSN-696); five strategic deterrent patrols and one Follow-on Commander’s Evaluation Test on the USS WYOMING (SSBN-742); an Under Ice Inter-Fleet Transfer and special operations on USS JIMMY CARTER (SSN-23); ICEX 2011 at the North Pole, two surge deployments, and a Northern Atlantic deployment on USS NEW HAMPSHIRE (SSN-778).

His shore tours include the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California; assignment as the as the Operations Officer at Submarine Squadron FOUR in Groton, Connecticut; student at the United Kingdom’s Submarine Command Course (PERISHER) in the United Kingdom; the Nuclear Officer Program Manager and Submarine Officer Community Manager in Washington, D.C.; the Deputy Director Submarine/Nuclear Power Distribution Control Division in Millington, Tennessee; the Chief of Staff of Undersea Warfighting Development Center in Groton, Connecticut; the Director of the Tactical Analysis Group at Undersea Warfighting Development Center and the Director for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for the Undersea Warfighting Development Center (UWDC). As the Director for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, he co-founded and led a joint AI project, Project Harbinger, for Undersea Warfighting Development Center, Under Security of Defense for Intelligence under Project Maven, NAVSEA, Digital Warfare Office and Office of Naval Research. He served as the Special Assistant for Artificial Intelligence to the Commander, Submarine Forces, the Functional Data Manager for the Undersea Enterprise and is the Deputy for Task Force Turing, an Undersea Enterprise effort to develop an Artificial Intelligence and Data Strategy.

Upon retirement he founded and led the applied artificial intelligence program, Project Harbinger. Project Harbinger is a series of Artificial Intelligence projects that applies Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning to acoustics in the undersea domain across several sensors and platforms. He was also the Director, Acoustics and Undersea Systems, at Saildrone, Inc. where he led the effort to develop and deploy acoustic systems on the Saildrone USVs. He is currently the President and CTO of Spear AI, a data and artificial intelligence company that he founded which focusses on national defense matters.