Joseph W. Ralston | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2000 | |
| Born | (1943-11-04)November 4, 1943 (age 82) |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Branch | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1965–2003 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands | Supreme Allied Commander Europe Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Combat Command Alaskan Command 56th Tactical Training Wing 68th Tactical Fighter Squadron |
| Battles / wars | Vietnam War |
| Awards | Defense Distinguished Service Medal (2) Air Force Distinguished Service Medal Legion of Merit (3) Distinguished Flying Cross (4) Meritorious Service Medal (3) Air Medal (20) |
| Other work | Board of Directors, URS Corporation |
GeneralJoseph Wood Ralston[1] (born November 4, 1943) is a retired general and diplomat who holds senior positions in variousdefense related corporations. He was previously a career officer in theUnited States Air Force, and served as the fourthvice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1996–2000),Supreme Allied Commander for theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Europe (2000–2003), and theUnited StatesSpecial Envoy for countering theKurdistan Workers Party (2006[2]–2007[3]).
Ralston served in theUnited States Air Force (USAF) from 1965 to 2003. He served in operational command atsquadron,wing,numbered air force andmajor command, as well as various staff and management positions at every level of the USAF.[4]
Ralston becameVice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1996. He was favored to becomeChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1997. Following revelations of an extra-marital affair with a civilian employee of theCentral Intelligence Agency in the 1980s, he remained vice chairman until May 2000 when he was appointedSupreme Allied Commander Europe for theNorth Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in Europe.[5] He retired in March 2003 and joined the Board of Trustees of theCenter for Strategic and International Studies.[6]
Former U.S. presidentBill Clinton writes in his memoirsMy Life that Ralston was used to resolve a potentially sticky situation withPakistan in which the U.S. would use Pakistani airspace to strike at theAl-Qaeda organization meeting inAfghanistan following theU.S. Embassy bombings inKenya andTanzania. There was U.S. concern that Pakistan's intelligence services would tip off the targets or even worse assume the missiles over Pakistan came fromIndia, potentially triggering a nuclear conflict on theIndian subcontinent. As Clinton writes on page 799 ofMy Life, "we decided to send the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Ralston, to have dinner with the top Pakistani military commander at the time the attacks were scheduled. Ralston would tell him (the Pakistani general) what was happening a few minutes before our missiles invaded Pakistani airspace, too late to alert theTaliban or Al-Qaeda, but in time to avoid having them shot down or sparking a counterattack on India."
In September 2006, Ralston was assigned as Special Envoy for Countering the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) by U.S. presidentGeorge W. Bush.[7] The PKK is aKurdish armed militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States,Turkey and theEuropean Union.
Ralston was one of at least three retired four-star generals asked by theBush administration to oversee both wars inIraq andAfghanistan. Ralston and the two other generals, however, all declined this position.[8]
Ralston is director of theTimken Company and theURS Corporation, is on theBoard of Directors ofLockheed Martin and has been Vice Chairman of theCohen Group, since March 2003.[9] He also sits on the advisory board of theAmerican Turkish Council, an American-Turkishlobby group.
In 1997, Ralston was the top candidate to succeedJohn M. Shalikashvili asChairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1997 when it became public that Ralston had an extramarital affair with a married civilian CIA employee during the 1980s. Ralston said he and his wife were separated at the time while his wife said that the affair continued afterwards and led to their divorce.[10][5] Defense SecretaryWilliam Cohen declared that Ralston's relationship 13 years ago would not "automatically disqualify" him from becoming the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,[11] resulting in accusations of a double standard for high-ranking military officers while lower ranks were punished. A month earlier, the first femaleB-52 pilot, First LieutenantKelly Flinn, had been forced to resign from the Air Force with ageneral discharge after having been charged with adultery.[10][5] Ralston eventually withdrew his name from consideration.[12]
Ralston held various senior positions in defense and security-related corporations, simultaneously with his diplomatic role as "anti PKK coordinator". Critics said Ralston was using his influence as special envoy to secure large government weapons contracts for arms maker Lockheed Martin where he was on the board of directors.[13] Besides, he was also on the advisory board of theAmerican Turkish Council (ATC).[13] TheBoston Globe described him as "an arms merchant in diplomat's clothing."[14]
In October 2006, the Kurdish National Congress of North America issued a press release demanding "the immediate resignation" of General Joseph Ralston:[15]
Ralston's appointment came at a time when Turkey was finalizing the sale of 30 newLockheed MartinF-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft (approx. $3 billion) and as Turkey was due to make a decision on the $10 billion purchase of the new Lockheed MartinF-35 JSF aircraft. The sale for the F-16's was approved by theUnited States Congress in mid-October and Turkey's decision in favor of the F-35 JSF was announced on October 25, shortly after Ralston's recent stay in Ankara, ostensibly to counter the PKK.
Since thePKK insurgency began in 1983, 30,000 people have died and over 3,000 Kurdish villages have been destroyed, often by U.S. supplied planes.[16] Critics are concerned that hard line anti-PKK policies influenced by conflicting interests would compromise the prospects for longterm solution to theKurdish–Turkish issue.[17]
On October 1, 2006, the PKK announced a unilateralcease-fire in south-east Turkey, a move that theTurkish government has rejected:[18]
The PKK had to stop fighting anyway because of the winter, but the PKK, backed byIraqi Kurds, are acting as if this were a major political decision, not a move dictated by a practical necessity. Of course, we don't take it seriously.
Speaking before the Eurasian Strategic Research Center (ASAM) in Istanbul, Ralston mirrored the Turkish government's rhetoric :[19]
I want to be clear on this point: The US will not negotiate with the PKK. We will not ask Turkey to negotiate with the PKK. And I pledge to you that I will never meet with the PKK.
| 1961 | Norwood Senior High School,Norwood, Ohio |
| 1965 | Bachelor of Arts degree in chemistry,Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, where he was a member ofTau Kappa Epsilon fraternity[20] |
| 1976 | Master of Arts degree in personnel management,Central Michigan University |
| 1976 | ArmyCommand and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas |
| 1984 | National War College,Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. |
| 1989 | John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Rating: | Command pilot |
| Flight hours: | More than 2,500 |
| Aircraft flown: | F-105D/F/G,F-4C/D/E,F-16A andF-15A/C |
 Command Pilot Badge |
| Insignia | Rank | Date |
|---|---|---|
 | Second Lieutenant | 24 July 1965 |
 | First Lieutenant | 24 Jan 1967 |
 | Captain | 24 Jul 1968 |
 | Major | 01 Dec 1973 |
 | Lieutenant Colonel | 01 Apr 1978 |
 | Colonel | 01 Jun 1981 |
 | Brigadier General | 01 Mar 1988 |
 | Major General | 01 Aug 1990 |
 | Lieutenant General | 13 Jul 1992 |
 | General | 01 Jul 1995 |
General Joseph W. Ralston, USA, former Supreme Allied Commander Europe, presents the Golden Plate Award to Marillyn A. Hewson, the Chairman, President and CEO of Lockheed Martin, at the Banquet of the Golden Plate gala.
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromGeneral Joseph W. Ralston.United States Air Force. Archived fromthe original on June 13, 2009.| Military offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 1996–2000 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Supreme Allied Commander Europe 2000–2003 | Succeeded by |
Vice chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States | |||
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