Steven O'Brien is a lieutenant colonel in the Minnesota Air National Guard's 133rd Airlift Wing.

O'Brien has become notable due to a pair of significant involvements on 9/11, when he and his crew flew close, in space and time, to the crashes of two of the four airliners hijacked that day: American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93. The former hit the Pentagon, while the latter later crashed in a field in western Pennsylvania.