Eric P. Wendt is a retired

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

lieutenant general Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a three-star military rank (NATO code OF-8) used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the ...

who last served as the 5th commander of the NATO Special Operations Headquarters, departing command on January 29, 2021. As a general officer, Wendt previously served as the United States Security Coordinator for the Israel-Palestinian Authority from November 2017 to October 2019, with prior general officer terms as the chief of staff of the

United States Pacific Command United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is a unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region. Formerly known as United States Pacific Command (USPACOM) since its inception in 1947, t ...

from May 2015 to September 2016, as the commanding general of the

John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School The U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School (SWCS) – known informally as "Swick" – primarily trains and educates United States Army personnel for the United States Army Special Operations Command and United States Specia ...

from 2014 to 2015, as the commander of

Special Operations Command Korea Special Operations Command Korea or SOCKOR, the United States (U.S.) Theater Special Operations Command (TSOC) in the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a Sub-Unified Command assigned under the Combatant Command (COCOM) of United States Special Operati ...

from 2012 to 2014, and as the deputy commander of

Regional Command North In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of the

International Security Assistance Force ' ps, کمک او همکاري ' , allies = Afghanistan , opponents = Taliban Al-Qaeda , commander1 = , commander1_label = Commander , commander2 = , commander2_label = , commander3 = , comman ...

from 2011 to 2012 in Afghanistan. Wendt was commissioned in the Army as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

via the

ROTC The Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC ( or )) is a group of college- and university-based officer-training programs for training commissioned officers of the United States Armed Forces. Overview While ROTC graduate officers serve in all ...

program at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...

in 1986, graduating with a B.A. degree in law and society, and later graduated from the

Naval Postgraduate School The Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a public graduate school operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. It offers master’s and doctoral degrees in more than 70 fields of study to the U.S. Armed Forces, DOD ci ...

with a M.A. degree in national security affairs. He retired effective March 1, 2021 after over 34 years of distinguished service, including over 4 years in the infantry and 30 years as a Special Forces Green Beret. He speaks Arabic and Korean. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

nominated him to be

United States ambassador to Qatar The United States ambassador to Qatar is the official representative of the government of the United States to the government of Qatar. Ambassadors See also *Qatar – United States relations *Foreign relations of Qatar *Ambassadors of the Un ...

on September 22, 2020, but his confirmation hearing was not scheduled before the 116th Congress permanently adjourned on January 3, 2021, so his nomination was returned without action.

References

Living people Date of birth missing (living people) United States Army personnel of the Iraq War United States Army personnel of the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021) Recipients of the Defense Distinguished Service Medal Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army generals Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-army-bio-stub