During his teenage years, Harward's father advised the pre-revolutionary Iranian military and the family lived in Tehran, Iran.

He served as a federal executive fellow at RAND, and completed the Foreign Policy Program (Seminar XXI) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

After completion of a South American deployment in support of Unitas XXIV, he received orders to Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training (BUD/S) at Naval Amphibious Base Coronado where he graduated as the honor man of BUD/S class 128 in July 1984.

Harward later earned a Master of Arts degree in National Security and Strategic Studies from the Naval War College.

As a Navy Captain, Harward assumed command of Naval Special Warfare Group ONE (NSWG 1) in August 2001 and deployed shortly after September 11 attacks, to Afghanistan.

In April 2005, Harward was assigned to the new National Counterterrorism Center in Washington, as the chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff representative to the Senior Interagency Strategy Team.

[15] Following the resignation of Michael T. Flynn as National Security Advisor on February 13, 2017, journalists identified Harward as one of the principal candidates to replace him.

[19] Media reports cited sources indicating that Harward was unable to agree with Trump over making his own appointments to his team.

[21] On January 26, 2022, Shield AI, an AI-focused defense technology company, announced Harward as their Executive Vice President for International Business and Strategy.