Brent Scowcroft
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Brent Scowcroft
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 Scowcroft (center) |
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| In office 1974 – 1977 |
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| President | Gerald Ford |
| Preceded by | Henry Kissinger |
| Succeeded by | Zbigniew Brzeziński |
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| In office 1989 – 1993 |
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| President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Colin Powell |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Lake |
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| Born | March 19, 1925 Ogden, Utah |
| Political party | Republican |
| Profession | military officer, diplomat |
| Religion | The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
Brent Scowcroft (born March 19, 1925 in Ogden, Utah) was the United States National Security Advisor under Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush and a Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force. He also served as Military Assistant to President Richard Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs in the Nixon and Ford administrations. He served as Chairman of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005. He also assisted President Barack Obama in choosing his national security team.
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[edit] Early life
Brent Scowcroft was born in Ogden, Utah to James Scowcroft, a grocer and business owner, and his wife, the former Lucile Ballantyne. He is a descendant of early 19th century immigrants from England, Scotland, Denmark, and Norway.
[edit] Positions held
Prior to joining the Bush administration, Scowcroft was Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc. He has had a long association with Henry Kissinger, having served as his assistant when Kissinger was the National Security Adviser under Nixon, from 1968.
He is the founder and president of The Forum for International Policy, a think tank. Scowcroft is also president of The Scowcroft Group, Inc., an international business consulting firm. He is a member of the Trilateral Commission, Council on Foreign Relations, a board member of The Center for Strategic and International Studies and The Atlantic Council of the United States.[1]
In the course of his military career, Scowcroft held positions in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Headquarters of the United States Air Force, and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Other assignments included faculty positions at the United States Air Force Academy and the United States Military Academy at West Point, and Assistant Air Attaché in the American Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Scowcroft retired with the rank of Lieutenant General in the U.S. Air Force.
Scowcroft has chaired or served on a number of policy advisory councils, including the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control, the President's Commission on Strategic Forces, the President's Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management, the Defense Policy Board, and the President's Special Review Board (Tower Commission) investigating the Iran-Contra affair. He also serves on the Guiding Coalition of the nonpartisan Project on National Security Reform.
On the morning of 9/11, Scowcroft was in one of the President's Flying Command posts on the tarmac waiting to takeoff and fly to Offutt Air Force Base, when the first plane hit the tower. The plane was en route when the second plane hit. Scowcroft was involved in observing the command and control operations of both President George W. Bush in Florida and Vice President Dick Cheney, who was in the White House. [2]
Scowcroft was a leading Republican critic of U.S. policy towards Iraq before and after the 2003 invasion, which war critics in particular have seen as significant given Scowcroft's close ties to former President George H.W. Bush. [3] [4] [5] [6] Scowcroft supported the invasion of Afghanistan as a "direct response" to terrorism.
Scowcroft had an aeronautical rating as a pilot and has numerous military decorations and awards. In addition, George H.W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. In 1993, he was presented with the insignia of an Honorary OBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. In 2005, Scowcroft was awarded the William Oliver Baker Award by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance.
He received his undergraduate degree and commission into the Army Air Forces from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He has an M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University.
He co-wrote A World Transformed with George H.W. Bush. This book described what it was like to be in the White House during the end of the Cold War, as the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. Explaining in 1998 why they didn't go on to Baghdad in 1991: "Had we gone the invasion route, the United States could conceivably still be an occupying power in a bitterly hostile land."
Scowcroft is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
[edit] See also
- History of the United States National Security Council 1989–1992
- Council on Foreign Relations
- American Turkish Council
[edit] External links
- "Don't Attack Saddam" by Brent Scowcroft.
- Brent Scowcroft speech to Harvard Kennedy School, October 29, 2008.
- Transcript: Charlie Rose interviews Zbigniew Brzezinski, Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft (International Herald Tribune) June 18, 2007.
- Brent Scowcroft résumé.
- Brent Scowcroft profile.
- Ivo H. Daalder and I.M. Destler, In the Shadow of the Oval Office: Profiles of the National Security Advisers and the Presidents They Served--From JFK to George W. Bush Simon & Schuster; 2009, ISBN 978-1416553199.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.trilateral.org/annmtgs/trialog/trlglist.htm
- ^ Scowcroft, Brent (2008). America and The World: Conversations on the future of American Foreign Policy. Basic Books. ISBN 9780465015016.
- ^ http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0805-02.htm
- ^ http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/scowcroft.html
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A36644-2004Oct15.html
- ^ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A54680-2005Jan6.html
| Legal offices | ||
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| Preceded by Henry Kissinger |
United States National Security Advisor 1974–1977 |
Succeeded by Zbigniew Brzezinski |
| Preceded by Colin Powell |
United States National Security Advisor 1989–1993 |
Succeeded by Anthony Lake |
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