Jack Reed was born in Cranston, Rhode Island, and is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served as an Army Ranger and paratrooper, attaining the rank of captain, before earning a law degree from Harvard Law School. Reed served in the Rhode Island State Senate and was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1990, then won his U.S. Senate seat in 1996, where he has served since, becoming Rhode Island's longest-serving senator.
Reed serves as ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and is widely regarded as one of the Senate's foremost experts on defense and military affairs. His West Point education, Army service, and decades of work on the Armed Services Committee have made him a go-to voice on military readiness, veterans' policy, and national security. Reed also serves on the Senate Appropriations Committee, where he has been an influential figure in shaping federal spending on defense and domestic programs.