The Colonial Defense Forces was conceived and founded in late 2004 by Nathan Gastineau, Jeff Weber and Bruce Jenner in Redlands California. The original idea was to form a yahoo group around the concept of a place where all Battlestar Galactica fans could gather and take on the persona of a Fleet Officer, Enlisted or other member of the BSG universe.

In early 2005, Nathan Gastineau and Bruce Jenner had the idea of expanding the concept of the CDF into a full blown fan club with chapters eventually spread around the world. Jeff Weber agreed to the idea and on March 1st 2005 the CDF went live on the internet.

In June 2005, Alison Merritt joined the Colonial Defense Forces by founding the first international chapter of the CDF in Salisbury North Australia. In late 2005 Jeff Weber decommissoned his chapter and stepped down as a leader and founder of the CDF leaving it Nathan Gastineau and Bruce Jenner to carry on.