About Amy Hannah Johnston

Amy Johnston of Fredericksburg, VA, is a Retired Brigadier General who served over three decades in a distinguished career with the US Army. Born and raised in Edina, MN, and Findlay, Ohio, her upper Midwestern upbringing imbued Amy with a strong work ethic, dedication to service and connection within her community.

During her military career, Amy Johnston served in several humanitarian and combat deployments in strategic locations. These include Seoul, Korea, and Mons, Belgium, where she held key staff positions at United Nations Command, Combined Forces Command, Korea, and The Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), the military headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) Allied Command Operations. She currently serves on an advisory council for the Center for Information, Democracy and Citizenship at the American University in Bulgaria.

Johnston is passionate about honoring her husband’s legacy, Major General Gary W. Johnston, who died unexpectedly. He was a highly decorated Military Intelligence Officer whose legacy continues to be honored with the Gary Johnston Leadership Award at Arkansas Tech University that Amy established in his name.

EDUCATION

Amy Hannah Johnston attended Ohio State University to study psychology, a science field that has always interested her. She obtained her B.S. before attending the American University in Washington, DC, where she completed a master’s program in communications. These fields of study would prove to be instrumental in Amy’s successful military career. They not only gave her a deep understanding of human motivations, but she gained an even greater understanding of how a large governmental organization works. During her military training and deployments, Johnston remained committed to learning and advancing her career at every opportunity. She holds an M.S. in National Resource Strategy with an Information Operations Concentration from the Eisenhower School’s Industrial College, a part of the National Defense University in Washington, DC. Her journey to becoming a commissioned officer also led her to graduate from the Command General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

MILITARY CAREER

Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Amy Johnston has led a distinguished military career of 31 years, in which she performed in many senior-level assignments during overseas assignments that put her excellent communication skills to use. She has also been recognized for her ability to engage in strategic-level operations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Her multiple humanitarian and combat deployment roles included Operation Sea Signal in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, where she served to assist Cuban and Haitian migrants seeking political asylum who were processed and housed under US policies at the time.

After Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, Johnston was instrumental in the success of Joint Task Force All-American, a military unit that played a crucial role in search and rescue operations and disaster relief efforts. She was also deployed overseas to help with Operation Enduring Freedom in Kandahar, Afghanistan, which played a critical role in the initial military response to the 9/11 attacks, where she was working at the time of the attack. Amy went on to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Baghdad, Iraq, with a multinational coalition of forces during the multiple years of combat and stabilization efforts.

Amy Hannah Johnston also served as the Chief of Army Public Affairs, a pivotal role in which she made significant organizational changes to strategic communications at the Pentagon in Washington, DC. During her military career, she was also the senior Public Affairs Officer and Deputy Strategic Communications Chief for the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium, and the Senior Public Affairs Officer in US Forces in South Korea. 

COMMUNITY SERVICE

Amy Johnston currently serves on the Advisory Council for the Center for Information, Democracy, and Citizenship at the American University in Bulgaria (AUGB). This council which was established in early 2025 is composed of nine distinguished individuals tasked with strengthening democracy around the world and fostering informed and engaged citizenship. She continues to support women and girls to pursue high-level military careers that will shape our armed forces well into future decades.

Johnston remains an avid community and environmental activist in her hometown of Fredericksburg, VA. She is on the board of Tree Fredericksburg, serving as a Tee Steward and diligently helping to propagate the state’s tree canopy and increase the urban tree footprint. She has plans to assist with planting the grounds for her community’s new middle school, which is under construction. Amy is most proud of the work she does with her trained therapy dog, Duke. They both passionately serve with the Alliance for Therapy Dogs to provide therapeutic outreach to active and retired military personnel in Virginia communities.