This is our first in a planned series leading up to the 250th Anniversary of our beautiful United States of America. We chose to start with the Honorable Tidal “Ty” W. McCoy for several reasons; not the least of which is a more than 20-year professional association with members of our board. In over two plus decades, we have learned that he is a man of character and integrity, with an overwhelming love for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, his family, and our Country. The Tidal W. McCoy Foundation was an early supporter of our efforts at Mountain Home and continues to support our Veterans and History programs.
Se we kickoff our 250th series with a man that only a few in our community know personally, but we can all know that he is our neighbor — a Son of America the Beautiful – a warrior in the battle to keep the USA the Land of Free and the Home of the Brave.
A Life Spent Largely in Service for the Good of the Republic
An interview with The Honorable Tidal ‘Ty’ W. McCoy, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower & Reserve Affairs) from 1981 to 1989
Ty was born in Gainesville, Florida near the end of World War II, he grew up like many in our community; raised by salt of the earth Christian parents to treat others as he wanted to be treated, to work hard, be honest and keep his word, to respect his elders, the law, the Constitution, and to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. As he grew up, he decided to go to West Point to serve in the Army and protect the U.S. and our freedoms and liberty.
After high school graduation, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating with a B.S. in engineering in 1967.
HoMH: Where did you serve while on active duty with the Army?
McCoy: I served in Germany, Vietnam and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, in command and staff jobs, where I was dealing with the most sensitive and compartmented programs, plans, and weapons.
HoMH: What was the most important thing you learned or realized about being an American when you were serving in the Army?
McCoy: I realized the U.S. culture and principles that allowed us to defend ourselves and our allies stemmed from our religious beliefs and historically derived democratic processes that promoted truth, merit, competence, and humanity.
McCoy left active duty with the U.S. Army in 1972 with the rank of Captain, but his public service continued for nearly two decades. Recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency in 1972, he served there until recalled by the Secretary of Defense for assignment to the Immediate Office of the Secretary of Defense as part of the Long-Range Planning and Net Assessment Group in the Office of the United States Secretary of Defense.
He was staff assistant and later a Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense and served simultaneously at the National Security Council at the White House from 1973 to 1977. During this time, he attended night classes and graduated with a master’s degree in business financial management from George Washington University in 1975.
In 1977, he served as the Scientific Advisor to Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Engineering and Systems David E. Mann. McCoy was then tapped as Assistant for National Security affairs to Sen. Jake Garn (R–Utah), where he served from 1979 to 1981.
He donated his time and efforts during the 1980 Presidential Election cycle to the campaign of Ronald Reagan. Working with a small group, McCoy helped formulate and co-lead the formulation of the Regan defense plan for the campaign and then for enactment in the Pentagon, where he was subsequently appointed. His mission at the Pentagon was to ensure President Reagan’s defense plan was implemented as an advisor to the Secretary of Defense, while also serving as Assistant Secretary and Acting Secretary of the Air Force.
President of the United States Ronald Reagan nominated McCoy to be the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower & Reserve Affairs) in April 1981. On June 3, 1981, the Senate Committee on Armed Services held a hearing on his nomination, and McCoy was unanimously confirmed by the Senate the following day. He held that office for the duration of the Reagan Administration. During the Reagan Administration, he also served as the Acting Under Secretary and Acting Secretary of the Air Force for a period of time.
HoMH: How did it make you feel when President Ronald Reagan asked to you to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Airforce?
McCoy: I was very honored and delighted at age 35 to be asked to first write the Reagan Defense plan with others, and then to go into the Pentagon as both an Advisor and Assistant Secretary (and also Acting Secretary) of the Air Force to implement and ensure that the Reagan Defense buildup was successful and would deter or defeat our enemies.
HoMH: What were you the proudest of during your time as the Assistant Secretary of the Airforce?
McCoy: I was most proud of my service in the Air Force for ensuring that the Congress funded the most important programs and the management of the programs was done properly, and for the increase in readiness and morale that we were able to engender in the Air Force so that they were inspired to “win the fight” if it came.
Photo from Tidal W. McCoy’s personal library. He is pictured on the right aboard Air Force One with President Reagan and others.
HoMH: After your work in the Reagan Administration, you joined Thiokol in 1989 to lead their government relations work. There are two questions that come to mind.
First, how did you move Thiokol into a winning position to benefit not only the company but the nation?
McCoy: I was able to advise the Thiokol Board of Directors, as part of the senior management team, on how to deal with the U.S. Government regarding space and defense programs that were being lost to other companies which had poor performance, and to capture and perform on these national priority programs.
HoMH: Second, looking back at the number of lives that have been saved by automobile airbag, how consequential do you see the work you did to help bring that technology to the market?
McCoy: As President of Thiokol Technologies, I was able to convince Thiokol to bring our airbag (small rocket) technology to market, and this resulted in saving many thousands of lives and return Thiokol shareholders tens of billions of dollars.
HoMH: You are a co-founder and Chairman of IronGate Capital Advisors, a venture capital fund focused on supporting dual-use technologies that will strengthen the United States national security and that of our allies. Can you tell us why you chose to take on this new venture and what you believe IronGate is bringing to bear that will benefit the USA and its allies in the crucial area of national security?
McCoy: I co-founded IronGate so we could evangelize and persuade the U.S. to reinvest in its technology, military, and industrial base that had badly atrophied in the preceding years. The brutal dictators of our adversaries have used their people, resources, and stolen our technology to create monstrous militarized societies and huge war machines and internal USA networks to defeat us and destroy our nation.
HoMH: In 2019, you co-founded as Vice Chairman, MitoSense, Inc. A biotech firm founded on groundbreaking research of Drs. Robert L. Elliott and Xian Peng Jiang from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You served as Vice Chairman and later as CEO until early 2023 as the company was grounded, and in a position, to move forward toward Clinical Trials for its Mitochondria Organelle Transplantation (MOT™️), for treatments of several neurodegenerative diseases. Many of which adversely affect many thousands of U.S. Citizens every year, and some, like ALS, affect military personnel and Veterans at a disproportionate rate when compared to the general population.
Your career has been filled predominantly with Military Service and Public Service in the areas of National Security and Intelligence. What prompted you to commit both time and money to a venture such as MitoSense?
McCoy: The opportunity to support such a groundbreaking medical development after years of careful research and bring it into practice as a therapy for many destructive diseases and injuries that afflict our military and Veterans, and also our civilians, led me to invest and lead and co-found this company with other wonderful patriots and doctors.
HoMH: Your career is filled with over 20 years of public service to the U.S. Government, and nearly 40 years of continued public service through your participation in and leadership of many worthwhile nonprofit organizations; why was it important for service to your fellow citizens important to you?
McCoy: My long service was a proper way to repay my parents and our forebears for paving the way for a beautiful American Life, and the best way to ensure that it continues for our children.
HoMH: For almost 30 years now, you have pursued not only private sector endeavors, but also service to nonprofits. You have served at the Space Transportation Association, the Defense Forum Foundation, Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, the Cyber, Space & Intelligence Association, and at the Institute of World Politics. These are all organizations you still support with your time. Why are these organizations important to you, and what public good do you believe is served by them?
Ty McCoy with former U.S. Ambassador Aldona Wos who now serves as President at The Institute of World Politics (IWP), and local businessman Marc Andersen in front of the IWP in Washington, DC. McCoy has served in various board positions at IWP since 2012. Photo from Tidal W. McCoy’s personal library.
McCoy: The non-profit organizations that I support with my McCoy Foundation and my time are vital to informing and educating our citizens of the dangers that are at our throat as a free nation.
HoMH: When you look back over the last 60 years of your life and the things you have worked on, what do you hope your children and grandchildren have learned about service to others and the cost of freedom?
McCoy: I hope and believe that my children and grandchildren have learned that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance and that peace comes only through strength.
Ty McCoy at the 2024 Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC,
with the Vietnam Float in the background. Ty is a proud Army Veteran
of the Vietnam War. Photo from Tidal W. McCoy’s personal library.
HoMH: When you think about our nation celebrating 250 years on July 4, 2026, what would you like to share with every American?
McCoy: On the 250th Anniversary of the United States, I would just offer, that if you are weak and distracted, you will lose your freedom, and it may be lost forever.
Nearly two decades before he became the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan spoke the following words that were profound in 1961, and even more profound today as our nation faces more enemies both foreign and domestic. “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don’t do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.” – Ronald Reagan 1961
In short, freedom requires vigilance. America was worth everything to the 56 men who signed The Declaration of Independence, to the many thousands who have served from the American Revolution to present day defending the ideals and truths we hold dear. America is still worth it — for our children, and their children, be vigilant until time is no more.
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