Prior to becoming an author, "J.T. Patten" worked for the government intelligence and military special operations community. He was a subject matter authority on Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Qods Force, Irregular and Unconventional Warfare strategies in counterterrorism, intelligence collection, and social network disruption. He has a degree in Foreign Languages from Illinois State University, a Masters in Strategic intelligence from the American Military University, post-graduate degree in Counter Terrorism from the University of St Andrews Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), and many accredited certifications in intelligence analysis, cyber forensics and counterintelligence, mobile device tracing, and financial crime investigations. He currently works a a Fortune 500 cybersecurity consulting practice leader, and is venturing into more dark story works.