Lieutenant General Robert G. Gard, Jr. is the Senior Military Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation where his work focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, missile defense,[1] Iraq, Iran, military policy, nuclear terrorism, and other national security issues.
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Gard was educated at TMI — The Episcopal School of Texas before receiving a place at the United States Military Academy. He subsequently took both an M.P.A. and a Ph.D in Political Economy & Government from Harvard University.[2] During his military career, Gard served in both Korea and Vietnam, and a three year tour in Germany. He held several positions in the United States Department of Defense, serving as Executive Assistant to two secretaries of defense; as the first Director of Human Resources Development for the U.S. Army, as Special Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs, and as President of National Defense University (NDU).
After retiring from the U.S. Army in 1981 after 31 years of service, Gard served for five years as director of the Johns Hopkins University Center in Bologna, Italy, and then as President of the Monterey Institute of International Studies from 1987 to 1998.
Gard's current work focuses on the need to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq.[3] He has joined several other retired military officers in signing petitions and letters to elected government officials in opposition to the war and in support of a diplomatic solutions to U.S.-Iran tensions.[4]
Gard has written for well-known journals and periodicals that focus on military and international affairs and lectured widely at U.S. and international universities and academic conferences, and research institutions.[5] Since 1998, he has been an active consultant in Washington, D.C., on national security issues. In 1996, General Gard joined Veterans for America as its military advisor. He has been active in VFA’s efforts to enact an international and U.S. ban on the production, sale, transfer, and use of antipersonnel landmines.[6]
He serves on the board of eight non-profit organizations and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Gard holds a B.A. from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point and both an M.P.A. and Ph.D in Political Economy & Government from Harvard University.