Lieutenant General Charles Hooper, US Army, retired in 2020 following a distinguished 41-year military career. A highly successful leader of diverse, high performing organizations, he is considered one of the Nation’s foremost strategists, and solider-diplomats.
He most recently served as the Director of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), with worldwide oversight of the 20,000 people responsible for the annual $50 billion sale of all US weapons to foreign governments. Prior to DSCA, Lieutenant General Hooper served as the Chief of the Office of Military Cooperation Cairo, Egypt, Director of Strategy, Plans, and Programs at US Africa Command and Deputy Director for Strategic Planning and Policy at US Indo-Pacific Command. He also taught graduate-level courses at the US Naval Postgraduate School and was responsible for US Army recruiting in the Southwest US. A fluent Chinese linguist, he completed two diplomatic assignments for a total of seven years in Beijing, including as US Defense Attaché-the senior US military officer in China.
Lieutenant General Hooper is a graduate of the US Military Academy, West Point, and earned a master’s degree, with honors, from the Harvard University. He also holds a certificate in Chinese Language and Literature from the British (UK) Ministry of Defense Chinese Language School, Hong Kong, and is a graduate of the US Army War College.
Lieutenant General Hooper is now a Senior Counselor with The Cohen Group, a Washington DC consulting firm. He serves on the boards of UL Solutions, the Apache Corporation and Two Six Technologies, as well as the National Defense University. In addition, Lieutenant General Hooper is also a Senior Fellow at Harvard University’s Belfer Center, a senior non-resident scholar at the Atlantic Council, and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.