Lieutenant General (Retired) Ben Hodges is the former Commanding General of US Army Europe (2014-2017). He is a Distinguished Fellow with GLOBSEC in Slovakia and serves on the International Advisory Board of the New Strategy Center in Romania and the Warsaw Security Forum in Poland. He serves on several civic advocacy Advisory Boards including Renew Democracy Initiative, Atlantik Bruecke, Arthur Burns Fellowship, Razom for Ukraine, Veterans Help Group, and Spirit of America. He consults for several companies on Europe, NATO, and the European Union, and he is co-author of the book, Future War and the Defence of Europe, published by Oxford University Press. General Hodges has a regular presence on US and international media. He offers insight and analysis on NATO, US and European security, the Russian War against Ukraine, the greater Black Sea and Baltic Sea Regions, the Israel-Hamas war, the recent US Election and its implications for Transatlantic Security, human rights, and other related geostrategic topics. He was most recently Senior Advisor to Human Rights First, a non-profit, nonpartisan international human rights organization based in the United States. Prior to joining Human Rights First, he held the Pershing Chair in Strategic Studies at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA). Furthermore, from 2022 to the end of 2024 Ben Hodges served as NATO Senior Mentor for Logistics. A native of Quincy, Florida, General Hodges graduated from the United States Military Academy in May 1980 and was commissioned as an Infantry Officer in the US Army. After his first assignment as a Lieutenant in Garlstedt, Germany, he commanded Infantry units at the Company, Battalion, and Brigade levels in the 101st Airborne Division, including the First Brigade Combat Team “Bastogne” in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (2003-2004). His other operational assignments include Chief of Operations for Multi-National Corps-Iraq in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (2005-2006) and Director of Operations, Regional Command South in Kandahar, Afghanistan (2009-2010). From 2012-2014 he served as Commander, NATO Allied Land Command in İzmir, Turkey. His last military assignment was as Commanding General, United States Army Europe in Wiesbaden, Germany from 2014 to 2017. He retired from the U.S. Army in January 2018 and lives today with his wife, Dr Alexandra Schwarzkopf, in Frankfurt, Germany.