James Q. Roberts
Colonel Roberts will address the topic
“The War on Terrorism, An Assessment”
James Q. Roberts is a subject matter expert in counterterrorism, special operations and irregular warfare. “J.Q.” is a retired U.S. Army Military Intelligence Colonel; he is also a retired Senior Executive from the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD). During his 48 years of government service he spent 24 years in the Army and 24 years as an SES. He began his government career as an U.S. Army Private in 1968 and was commissioned in 1969 as an Intelligence Officer. J.Q. then graduated from the Special Forces Qualification Course in 1970, and served in intelligence, light infantry, special operations, and foreign area officer positions. Military overseas tours included Vietnam and Cambodia as an intelligence officer; Paris, France as a graduate student; and Iran - as the Army’s last Foreign Area Officer there in 1979. He commanded the 7th Military Intelligence Company at Fort Ord, CA, and the 8th Psychological Operations Battalion (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, NC. Selected for promotion to Colonel in 1989, he joined the new, Congressionally-mandated Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict. In 1992 he retired from the Army to accept an appointment in the Senior Executive Service in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. As a Senior Executive he worked principally in the Special Operations and Combating Terrorism fields. Other positions included: Director, NATO Policy, 1999-2000; Defense Policy Advisor, U.S. Mission to the European Union, 2000-2003; U.S. Deputy Director, George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies, 2006-2009; and as the Secretary of Defense Chair at the Eisenhower School, 2013-2016. Mr. Roberts was born in Fresno, California. While growing up he traveled extensively in the U.S. and overseas. He lived in Iran as a child, attended high school at the Lycee Jaccard in Lausanne, Switzerland and graduated with a B.A. from the University of South Carolina in 1968. He holds an M.A. from Middlebury College, and a Certificat d’etudes Politiques from l’Institut des Sciences Politiques in Paris. J.Q. is married to Beth Wald, herself a retired senior intelligence officer with the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Colonel Roberts’ remarks will be off the record and not for attribution.
The Defense Intelligence Forum is open to members of all Intelligence Community associations and their guests.