Lieutenant General Brent Scowcroft, USAF (Ret.), was one of the nation’s preeminent authorities on international policy. He was the founder and President of The Forum for International Policy, a non-partisan, non-profit organization providing independent analyses and perspectives on major foreign policy issues. He was also President of The Scowcroft Group, Inc., an international business advisory firm.
General Scowcroft served as Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush. He also served as Military Assistant to President Nixon and as Deputy Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs to Presidents Ford and Nixon. Prior to joining the Bush Administration, General Scowcroft was Vice Chairman of Kissinger Associates, Inc.
In the course of his military career, General Scowcroft held positions in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Headquarters of the U.S. Air Force; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. Other assignments included faculty positions at the U. S. Air Force Academy and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Assistant Air Attaché at the American Embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
General Scowcroft served as a Director of the Qualcomm Corporation and on the University of California President’s Council on the National Laboratories. He served as chairman of the American-Turkish Council, president of the George Bush Presidential Library Foundation and was chairman of the Atlantic Council. He was also a member of the board of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation, the George C. Marshall Foundation, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), the International Republican Institute, the National Defense University, and the American Council on Germany. He also served on the Advisory Board of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.
General Scowcroft chaired or served on a number of policy advisory councils, including the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board; the United Nations Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change; the Eisenhower Institute; the President’s General Advisory Committee on Arms Control; the President’s Commission on Strategic Forces; the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Defense Management; the Defense Policy Board; and the President’s Special Review Board (Tower Board) investigating the Iran-Contra affair.
General Scowcroft had an aeronautical rating as a pilot and had numerous military decorations and awards. In addition, President George H. W. Bush presented him with the Medal of Freedom Award in 1991, the nation’s highest civilian award. In 1993, he was made an Honorary Knight of the British Empire (K.B.E.) by Queen Elizabeth II.
General Scowcroft was born in Ogden, Utah on March 19, 1925. He received his undergraduate degree and commission into the Army Air Forces from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was recognized as a Distinguished Graduate. He received M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University. He also was the recipient of honorary degrees from the National Defense University; the Medical University of South Carolina; Brigham Young University; the University of Utah; the College of William and Mary; Columbia University; DePaul University; and George Washington University.
General Scowcroft was married to the late Marian Horner Scowcroft and had a daughter Karen Scowcroft and a granddaughter Meghan Scowcroft. He passed away on August 6, 2020, in Virginia, and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery alongside his wife.
