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General John R. Allen (Ret)

Board Member

General John R. Allen is a retired four-star Marine Corps General and former commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan, leading a 150,000-strong coalition force at the height of the war. He was the first Marine to command a theater of war. Following his military service, General Allen served as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of Defense on Middle East Security and later as Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL, where he helped grow the international coalition to 65 member nations.

A career shaped by global complexity and high-stakes diplomacy, Allen’s combat and operational tours span the Caribbean, Balkans, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, he played a pivotal role in supporting the Sunni Awakening that contributed to the defeat of Al Qaeda.

Allen also served as Deputy Commander of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), where he helped oversee strategic security across the Middle East and Central Asia. Earlier, as the principal director of Asia-Pacific policy in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, he helped shape U.S. regional policy, including involvement in the Six-Party Talks on North Korea.

He is currently a Strategic Advisor to Microsoft and a member of its Advisory Council, a Senior Fellow at Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a permanent member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He previously served as President of the Brookings Institution (2017–2022).

A published author and thought leader in emerging technology and global security, General Allen co-authored Turning Point: Policymaking in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Future War and the Defence of Europe. He is also a co-inventor of several AI-related patents and advises technology startups.