In January 2008 after two years as Director of the Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, where he was responsible for assisting units in ground combat in Iraq and Afghanistan to counter Improvised Explosive Devices, Gen. Montgomery Meigs joined Georgetown University’s Center for Peace and Security Studies as its Visiting Professor of Strategy and Military Operations. Before going to JIEDDO, Gen. Meigs taught at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University, where he held the Louis A. Bantle Chair of Business and Government Policy.
Gen. Meigs had a distinguished career in the U.S Army. His positions included Commander, U.S. Army Europe (1998-2002), and for the first year of that assignment, also Commander of SFOR, NATO’s peacekeeping force in Bosnia. During NATO’s campaign to remove Serb Forces from Kosovo, SFOR successfully kept the conflict from spreading to Bosnia Herzegovina. In 1996 – 1997 as well, he led the 1st Infantry Division in its deployment enforcing the Dayton Treaty in Bosnia. In addition he has served as Commander of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center (1997-1998) and Commandant of the Army’s Staff College. He commanded the Iron Brigade of the 1st Armored Division in DESERT STORM and served as a Senior Strategic Planner for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon (1987-1990) with responsibility for the National War Plan. He also served in Vietnam as a reconnaissance troop commander.
In addition to teaching at Syracuse University, Gen. Meigs held the Tom Slick Visiting Professorship at the LBJ School at the University of Texas-Austin (2003 – 2004.) He wrote Slide Rules and Submarines (Washington DC: National Defense University Press, now in its third reprint) and articles and editorials on military operations and strategy, including “Unorthodox Thoughts about Asymmetric Warfare,” Parameters, Vol. 33, no.2 (Spring 2003). He is member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has returned to NBC News as a military consultant.
Gen. Meigs received his Ph.D and MA in History from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and his BS from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His awards include the Department of Defense’s Medal for Distinguished Public Service and the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Bronze Star with “V” Device and the Purple Heart, and with other members of the Iron Brigade, the Army’s Valorous Unit Award. His foreign awards include the German Republic’s Distinguished Service Medal with Star and Officer of French Legion d’Honneur.
Meigs is also a participant in the following:
- Visiting Professor....Georgetown University
- Member, Board of Trustees of the Mitre Corporation, a federally funded research and development corporation