Ted was born in Detroit, Michigan, on December 4, 1940, to Ed and Dorothy Warner, and grew up in Okemos, Michigan. He graduated from Okemos High School in 1958, where he was valedictorian of his class and a varsity athlete in basketball, football, track, baseball, and golf. Four years later, Ted graduated from the United States Naval Academy and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He and his wife Pam were married in 1967.

He served with distinction for more than twenty years in assignments that ranged from air intelligence officer with the 93rd Bomb Wing at Castle Air Force Base, California, to assistant professor of political science at the United States Air Force Academy, to assistant air attaché at the U.S. embassy in Moscow, and head of the staff group for the Air Force Chief of Staff at the Pentagon in Washington. While on active duty with the Air Force, Ted earned his doctorate from the Department of Politics at Princeton University in 1975.

Ted retired from the Air Force in 1982 and became a senior defense analyst at the Washington office of the RAND Corporation. There he led research and published works on Soviet defense policy and strategy, the balance of military forces in Europe, nuclear arms control, and other security-related topics. In 1993 he was confirmed as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Requirements and served in that capacity for more than seven years. During his tenure as assistant secretary he led efforts to reshape U.S. defense strategy, forces, and operational plans for the post-Cold War era; developed new policies governing U.S. peacekeeping and humanitarian relief operations; forged defense relationships with the newly independent states that emerged following the demise of the Soviet Union; and helped to negotiate the Adapted Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty.

From 2001 to 2009 Ted was a principal at the Washington-based consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where he led teams working with a variety of Defense Department projects.