Christopher Mark McKinley is a retired U.S. Navy SEAL with more than fifteen years of combined Naval Special Operations Command (NAVSOC) and Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC)/Department of State (DoS) field experience as a private military contractor (PMC). Chris was assigned to SEAL Team 8 for five years before being attached to a SEAL Reserve Unit while deploying as a PMC.
After leaving the U.S. Navy, Chris earned a master’s degree in physician assistant studies from the University of Nebraska Medical Center, graduating with high honors in orthopedic surgery, sports medicine, and emergency medicine concentrations. He worked for Blackwater USA as a section leader in the firm’s WPPS Mobile Dignitary Protection Program. Additionally, he operated within Blackwater’s elite select activities division. Chris was also Blackwater’s director of medical operations for the Joint Special Operations Aviation Detachment (JSAOD) command structures. Chris’s collective field experiences as a military and paramilitary operator include operations in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, and Africa. Chris is the founder of INVICTVS Group and SEAL Team Consulting. As a civilian consultant, he has worked with the FBI Hostage Rescue Team and numerous state law enforcement SWAT teams on tactical and covert skill sets.
He is a well-known TV personality and has appeared on national and international TV news networks as a Special Forces subject matter expert. Chris has also appeared, starred in, or done voiceover work for several TV documentaries and series, including Ivory Wars, Secrets of SEAL Team 6, Ridge Reaper, America’s Book of Secrets: Black Ops, and WikiLeaks: Secrets and Lies.