Commander, Western Command
Captain Jay Dutcher of Canandaigua, serves as Commander, Western Command (WESTCOM), New York Naval Militia.
He was commissioned into the United States Naval Reserve in 1991 through the Direct Commission Program; serving as an Intelligence Officer.
During his tenure in the Navy, he served at CNO Intel Plot, the Pentagon; the Office of Naval Intelligence; Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron TWO ZERO NINE (VAQ 209), and at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center NAS Fallon as an instructor/evaluator and N2R department head. He served as Executive Officer of European Command Det 1066 at the Pentagon; Executive Officer of STRATCOM Det at Papago Military Reservation, Phoenix, AZ; Commanding Officer of COMPACFLT Det 419 at Camp Parks, CA; and Commanding Officer of the Expeditionary Intelligence Unit, Ft. Lewis, WA. He served on 8 overseas deployments with VAQ-209 and VAW-78, including four Iraq tours with one at Al Asad Air Base, Anbar Province.
He is a graduate of Salem College (WV), BA summa cum laude; Syracuse University, MPA; Georgetown University Law School, JD; and the U.S. Naval War College.
An attorney in civilian life, he previously has been a budget analyst at Naval Sea Systems Command, in Arlington, VA; served on the staff of the National Security Council during the Reagan administration; with the Office of the Secretary of Defense focused on strategic planning and Congressional Affairs, and a Professional Staff Member with the U.S. House of Representatives Leadership with Chairman Rep. Bill Paxon (NY).
Upon returning to New York, he conducted defense research for the Rochester Institute of Technology; government and community relations for Impact Technologies, and served as Chief of Staff for Representative Tom Reed of New York.
A private pilot, he is currently the founder and owner of Crane Analytics, a business consulting firm providing risk mitigation and advisory services for technology and highly regulated firms, and conducts leadership training for Navy and Marine Corps customers.
He was assigned as Deputy Commander of NYNM WESTCOM in 2014, and as Commander of NYNM WESTCOM in 2019.
