Biography
Steve Maffeo recently retired as the Associate Library Director at the U.S. Air Force Academy; a position he’s held for the past twenty-six years. For the five years prior to that he was a reference librarian at the Academy, with specific subject-liaison duties with the Department of History—among others.
Mr. Maffeo holds a B.A. (English) from the University of Colorado; an M.A. (Library Science) from the University of Denver; and an M.S. (Strategic Intelligence) from the U.S. National Defense Intelligence College. His civilian career has for the most part been as a line librarian and as a library administrator - at the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley); the U.S. Naval War College (Newport, R.I.); the Aurora (Colo.) Public Library; and the Air Force Academy.
In 2008, Steve retired as a Navy captain – after 30 years (both enlisted and commissioned) in the Colorado Army National Guard, the U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Naval Reserve. He had many assignments with many outfits; the last were as Commanding Officer, Office of Naval Intelligence Reserve Unit 0287 in Salt Lake City; Commanding Officer, Joint Intelligence Center Pacific Detachment Denver; and Director, National Defense Intelligence College Part-Time Programs, Washington DC. He was voluntarily recalled to active duty 1990-1991 during Desert Shield/Storm, at NORAD / U.S. Space Command as a watch-team commander and flag-officer briefer. His awards include the Legion of Merit, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, a USAF Civilian Meritorious Service Medal, a USAF Exemplary Civilian Service Medal, and a USAF Outstanding Career Civilian Service Medal. He also holds the Navy's Information Dominance Warfare Officer Insignia, the Command Ashore Insignia, and the Air Force's Excellence-in-Competition Bronze Badges for both rifle and pistol.
Steve has published several journal articles, an encyclopedia article, and four books: Most Secret and Confidential: Intelligence in the Age of Nelson (Naval Institute Press, Annapolis / Chatham Publishing, London, 2000), Seize, Burn, or Sink: The Thoughts and Words of Vice Admiral Lord Nelson (Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Md., 2006), The Perfect Wreck: “Old Ironsides” and HMS Java—A Story of 1812 (Fireship Press, Tucson, 2011), and just recently U.S. Navy Codebreakers, Linguists, and Intelligence Officers against Japan: 1910-1941 (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015).
He lives in Colorado Springs with his wife Rhonda (a programmer/project manager). His son Micah (a martial arts 2nd degree black belt and Eagle Scout) is in Army ROTC at Colorado State University.