Lieutenant General Samuel Vaughan Wilson,aka "General Sam",completed his active military career in the fall of 1977,having divided his service almost equally between special operations and intelligence assignments.
Michael Glenn Mullen is a retired United States Navy admiral,who served as the 17th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from October 1,2007,to September 30,2011.
Lloyd James Austin III is a retired United States Army four-star general who has served as the 28th United States secretary of defense since January 22,2021. He is the first African American to serve in this role.
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense for all matters concerning the formation of national security and defense policy.
Lieutenant Colonel Rick Francona is an author,commentator and media military analyst. He is a retired United States Air Force intelligence officer with experience in the Middle East,including tours of duty with the National Security Agency,the Defense Intelligence Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. He was under contract to NBC News and appeared regularly on NBC,MSNBC and CNBC,as well as Radio Canada and other media. In 2013,he became a military analyst with CNN.
Dr. Kalev I. Sepp is senior lecturer in defense analyst at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey,California.
Joseph Devereux Kernan is a retired United States Navy vice admiral and the former under secretary of defense for intelligence. His last military assignment was serving as the military deputy commander of the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM),Miami,Florida,from May 23,2011,to September 2013. He was the second-in-command of one of nine unified commands under the Department of Defense.
Michael George Vickers is an American defense official who served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Intelligence (USD-I). As USD-I,Vickers,who was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010,was the Defense Department's top civilian military intelligence official. Before becoming USD-I,Vickers served as Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict.
John Rutherford Allen is a retired United States Marine Corps four-star general,and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force and U.S. Forces –Afghanistan (USFOR-A). On September 13,2014,President Barack Obama appointed Allen as special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL. He was succeeded in that role by Brett McGurk on October 23,2015. He is the co-author of Turning Point:Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence with Darrell M. West and Future War and the Defence of Europe alongside Lieutenant General (Ret.) Ben Hodges and Professor Julian Lindley French. Allen was president of the Brookings Institution from October 2017 until his resignation on June 12,2022.
Kenneth Paul Bergquist Jr. is an American brigadier general. He served as the United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1988 to 1989.
Mark Edward Mitchell was the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict for the United States Department of Defense for several months during 2019. A retired colonel,Mitchell was the first member of the United States Army to be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross during the War in Afghanistan and was the first to receive the award since the Vietnam War. He received the award in 2003 for his actions during the Battle of Qala-i-Jangi,which took place in late November to early December 2001.
Thomas L. Brown II was a retired United States Navy officer and the first Navy officer to command Special Operations Command South,based in Homestead Joint Air Reserve Base,Florida.
The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations/Low-Intensity Conflict or ASD(SO/LIC),is the principal civilian advisor to the U.S. Secretary of Defense on special operations and low-intensity conflict matters. Located within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy,the ASD(SO/LIC) is responsible primarily for the overall supervision of special operations and low-intensity conflict activities. These activities,according to USSOCOM's 2007 Posture Statement,include counterterrorism;unconventional warfare;direct action;special reconnaissance;foreign internal defense;civil affairs,information operations,psychological operations,and counterproliferation of WMD.
The United States Special Operations Command is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army,Marine Corps,Navy,and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. The command is part of the Department of Defense and is the only unified combatant command created by an Act of Congress. USSOCOM is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa,Florida.
Ezra Cohen,also known as Ezra Cohen-Watnick,is an American intelligence official who served as the acting under secretary of defense for intelligence during the Trump Administration. He previously served as the acting assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict,national security adviser to the United States attorney general and as a former senior director for intelligence programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC).
Michael Patrick Mulroy is the former United States Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for the Middle East,serving under Secretary James N. Mattis and Secretary Mark T. Esper. He was responsible for representing the United States Department of Defense (DoD) for defense policy and for Middle East policy in the interagency. He is also a retired CIA Paramilitary Operations Officer and a United States Marine.
Christopher Charles Miller is an American retired United States Army Special Forces colonel who served as acting United States secretary of defense from November 9,2020,to January 20,2021. He previously served as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center from August 10 to November 9,2020. Before his civilian service in the Department of Defense,Miller was a Green Beret,commanding 5th Special Forces Group in Iraq and Afghanistan,and later spent time as a defense contractor.
Christopher Paul Maier is an American government official who is the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict. He previously served as the Principal Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict.
The Afghanistan War Commission is a bipartisan task force set up to study the entirety of U.S. military operations in Afghanistan from 2001 to 2021. This commission was formally authorized as part of the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.
United States 