WASHINGTON -- Dr. Jude Sunderbruch, a former top civilian leader of the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, received France’s Medal for Internal Security (Gold Level), from Minister-Counselor Agnès von der Mühll, Dec. 8, during a ceremony attended by senior AFOSI officials, colleagues and family members.
The award, formally known as la Médaille de la Sécurité Intérieure, is one of France’s top honors for contributions to national security. For Sunderbruch, it came months after his 2024 retirement from federal service and nearly twenty years after he first led AFOSI’s detachment at the U.S. Embassy in Paris.
After receiving the award, Sunderbruch made brief remarks and said, “I would like to express my profound gratitude for this medal. Through this distinction, France recognizes not only my efforts, but also those of my French and American colleagues who have worked together to strengthen ties between law enforcement agencies in France and the United States, as well as in international organizations.”
According to officials, the medal is indicative of the enduring partnership between the two allies that spans centuries of partnership, including ongoing cooperation on law enforcement, military and national security matters globally.
After commissioning into the Air Force in the mid-1990s, Sunderbruch served as an AFOSI Special Agent and Pentagon staff officer before moving into a series of national security roles. As Special Agent in Charge of the AFOSI detachment in Paris, he led cooperative efforts with French law enforcement, military, and national security organizations.
Sunderbruch later returned to the United States as AFOSI’s associate director for counterintelligence, studied at the Eisenhower School, and served in Joint Duty Assignments in the FBI Cyber Division and at U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany.
From 2019 to 2022, he served as AFOSI’s executive director before taking over the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3), where he oversaw digital forensics, cyber training, vulnerability disclosure and support to the Defense Industrial Base. He retired in June 2024.
This was the second time in 2025 a current or retired AFOSI official has been recognized with the French Medal of Internal Security.
Special Agent Aaron Yardley, who also attended Sunderbruch’s ceremony in Washington, D.C., spent more than seven years in Europe, including the last four in France. During his time in Paris, Yardley served as AFOSI’s liaison to French law enforcement and security services, working daily with counterparts from the French National Police and the National Gendarmerie.
Last September, Brig. Gen. Amy Bumgarner, commander of AFOSI, traveled to France while visiting AFOSI units and partners across Europe. While there, she joined Yardley for what he believed would be a routine lunch with the leadership team of the Ministry of the Interior’s International Cooperation Directorate, referred to as DCIS. Instead, the newly-appointed DCIS Director, Georges Salinas, surprised him by presenting the French National Police Medal of Honor (Gold Level).
“Everyone in the room knew what was happening, except for me, which made the moment even more special and meaningful,” Yardley said.
The following month, the Gendarmerie de l’Air et de l’Espace, which has a long-standing partnership with AFOSI, recognized Yardley in a formal ceremony during which he received the French Medal of Internal Security (Bronze Level). This was in recognition of Yardley’s deep partnerships and successful collaboration across the French Gendarmerie.
The recognitions for Sunderbruch and Yardley, and Bumgarner’s presence during the latter, highlighted the enduring nature of the U.S.-French partnership for AFOSI.
The foundation for this relationship goes back much farther, however.
Last year, AFOSI held a long-delayed ceremony at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, to honor Special Agent René Georges Pichard, a Bordeaux-born World War II resister who joined the organization in 1954 and became its principal liaison in France during the Cold War.
Pichard, a member of the AFOSI Hall of Fame Class of 2020, handled everything from black-market investigations to supporting visits by American presidents and cabinet officials in Paris.
In addition, Pichard mentored generations of individuals who served in the AFOSI office in Paris, and others who supported U.S.-French cooperative efforts globally. AFOSI officials say the awards to Sunderbruch and Yardley reflect a continuity of cooperation that stretches from Pichard’s generation to the present.
“France and the United States are two sovereign and independent nations, proud of their histories and their futures,” Sunderbruch said. “We can also be proud of our shared history and the potential that unites us to work together in the future.”