Mr. Lewis Ratchford, Jr. is currently serving as the Deputy Director of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency. In this role, he serves as the principal advisor and executive confidant to the Director, PFPA, with complete authority to act for and make commitments on all matters regarding the functions and responsibilities of the PFPA. In his capacity as the Deputy, he leads the Agency's Mission Assurance effort to mitigate risk to PFPA's mission.

Prior to joining PFPA, Mr. Lewis Ratchford served as the Chief Security Officer for the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this capacity, Mr. Ratchford oversaw VA's national security operations, security administration, preparedness, intelligence, counterintelligence, and law enforcement portfolios, to include oversight of the VA’s federally accredited Law Enforcement Training Center (LETC). Prior to serving as the Chief Security Officer, he served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Emergency Management and Resilience, Department of Veterans Affairs.

Mr. Ratchford began his federal civilian career in 2003 as an Antiterrorism Officer with the Department of the Army. He went on to manage multiple national security portfolios with the Department of the Air Force, Executive Office of the President of the United States, and the U.S. General Services Administration. In addition to the above civilian positions, Mr. Ratchford has served as a member of the Executive branch Continuity Advisory Group (CAG) and Steering Committee, Federal Senior Intelligence Coordinator Advisory Board to the Office of the Director for National Intelligence, and member of the National Counterintelligence Task Force (NCITF) Executive Steering Committee. Mr. Ratchford has also earned numerous civilian awards including Department of Veterans Affairs Meritorious Service Medals (2), Executive Office of the President Honor Award and Director’s Team Recognition Award for Security Excellence, Department of the Army Commander’s Award and Achievement Medals for Civilian Service, and Department of the Army Outstanding Antiterrorism Innovation/Action Award. Mr. Ratchford is a certified Level 1 Federal Professional Continuity Practitioner.

Mr. Ratchford enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1991 as a combat medical specialist. In 1998, Mr. Ratchford received his commission as a second lieutenant and served on active duty from 1998 – 2003. Mr. Ratchford served in multiple leadership roles and participated in multiple operational deployments to the Balkans and the Middle East regions. While deployed to Kosovo in support of Operation Joint Guardian, he served as the Task Force Antiterrorism / Force Protection Officer. Mr. Ratchford was inducted into the Office of the Quartermaster General for Antiterrorism and Force Protection Excellence.

Mr. Ratchford holds a Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from The Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy and a graduate Certificate in Weapons of Mass Destruction Studies form the National Defense University. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Technology from Alabama A&M University and is a 1998 Distinguished Military Graduate from the ROTC "Bulldog Battalion".