Colonel, (U.S. Army RET) Richard H. Breen, Jr., is a career communications, public relations, marketing and broadcast leader and manager with more than 35 years of government, corporate and non-profit communications and marketing experience. COL ® Breen is currently the Director of Communications and Public Affairs for the Assistant Secretary of War for Health Affairs at the Pentagon and oversees the entire communications mission for the Military Health System. In this capacity, he provides strategic communications counsel for a wide range of medical issues across the Military Health System spectrum including crisis communications, global health, interagency communications and educational support to the 9.6 million beneficiaries of the MHS eligible for the military health care benefit known as TRICARE. His communications team was the Military Health System communications center of gravity during the Covid – 19 pandemic for the Department of War. Rich is a 1977 Distinguished Military Graduate from the University of Scranton, PA with a major in Communications.
A retired United States Army Colonel, Rich has held numerous senior communicator jobs throughout his military and civilian career in a wide range of communications organizations. He was the senior spokesperson on the grounds of the Pentagon for the first three weeks following the attack on 9-11 as the Director of Strategic Communications for the U.S. Army Military District of Washington. He was the architect of two strategic outreach and marketing campaigns for the Chief of Staff of the Army called Operation Tribute to Freedom and Freedom Team Salute which created positive communications stories, products and events worldwide to highlight the American Soldier engaged in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
He was a Senior Vice President for Summit Marketing Communications International responsible for developing marketing communications strategies for critical Army issues such as Sexual Harassment and Suicide Prevention. While on active duty he completed a one-year fellowship with the Fleishman-Hillard Public Relations International firm in Washington, DC and led several corporate communications programs and accounts including the launch of a digital communications system in Singapore. Significant civilian and military positions include the Commander (CEO) for the United States Army Soldiers Media Center, the largest integrated communications enterprise in the Department of Defense and the pre-curser for the Defense Media Activity, the Commander of the American Forces Radio and Television Broadcast Network in Seoul, Korea and the Director of Public Affairs, Marketing, Media Training and Strategic Outreach for the Office of the Army Chief of Public Affairs. He is a graduate of the Army War College, the Army Command and General Staff College, with a master’s degree in Research Methodology and holds a Masters degree in Administrative Management from Central Michigan University
In 2017, Colonel (R) Breen was one of only 60 leaders to be indicted into the Army Public Affairs Hall of Fame and in 2018 he was indicted into the Cardinal O’Hara High School, Springfield, PA, Hall of Fame ( https://vimeo.com/295635774). He has won numerous awards including receiving the Dr. Frank O’Hara award, the highest alumni award presented by the University of Scranton in 2007.
In 2024, he produced a documentary called, “COVID – 19: A Crisis Like No Other,” highlighting the role of the Military Health System in the war against COVID – 19. That documentary won both a silver and a bronze Telly Award in the best documentary competition.
Rich is married to Colonel ® Lorraine Breen, United States Army Medical Specialist Corps and a 1978 graduate of Marywood University in Scranton, PA. She is a special advisor to the President of the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland. The Breen’s reside in Alexandria, Virginia.