Chairman’s Forum With General Joseph Votel

General Joseph L. Votel, Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command joined Stimson Chairman Ambassador Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr. to share his experiences and insights into U.S. foreign policy. This informal, strategic conversation took place at the Stimson Center.

Watch this event below or here.

WHAT: Gen. Joseph Votel joins Amb. Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr. to discuss U.S. foreign policy. The conversation is on the record.
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Featuring:

General Joseph L. Votel, Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
General Joseph L. Votel attended the United States Military Academy and was commissioned in 1980 as an Army Infantry Officer. Following this tour, he was assigned to Headquarters, Allied Forces Southern Europe – Naples, Italy, and the NATO Peace Implementation Force (IFOR) in Sarajevo. He commanded the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry (Light) at Fort Drum, N.Y., and the 1st Ranger Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, Savannah, Ga. At the Army War College, General Votel commanded the 75th Ranger Regiment and participated in Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, Iraq.

As a general officer, General Votel served in the Pentagon as the Director of the Army and Joint Improvised Explosive Device (IED) Defeat Task Force and then as the Deputy Director of the Joint IED Defeat Organization established under the Deputy Secretary of Defense. He also served as the Deputy Commanding General (Operations), 82nd Airborne Division / CJTF-82, Operation Enduring Freedom, Afghanistan, and was then assigned as the Deputy Commanding General of the Joint Special Operations Command, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Amb. Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors, the Stimson Center

Ambassador Lincoln P. Bloomfield, Jr. is Founder and President of Palmer Coates; Senior Adviser at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Operating Partner at Pegasus Capital Advisors; Senior Adviser at ZeroBase Energy. He was U.S. Special Envoy for man-portable air defense systems threat reduction from 2008-2009 and Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs from 2001-2005. Bloomfield previously served as: Deputy Assistant Ssecretary of State for Near Eastern affairs (1992-1993); Deputy Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs (1991-1992); and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs (1988-1989), among other policy positions in the Defense Department dating to 1981. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.