Executive Profile

Gen. Joseph Dunford, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman, Inducted Into 2018 Wash100 for Leadership in International Relations

Executive Mosaic is honored to introduce Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as an inductee into the 2018 edition of the Wash100 — Executive Mosaic’s annual selection of the most influential voices in the government contracting arena — for his extensive work on improving the United States’ relationships with other countries and their defense leaders through collaborative policy implementation.

The Senate voted in September to approve Dunford’s reappointment as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In this role, he will continue to serve as principal military adviser to the president, defense secretary and members of the National Security Council through 2019.

Dunford met with defense leaders from Japan and South Korea in October 2017 at the U.S. Pacific Command’s headquarters in Hawaii and agreed that multilateral and trilateral cooperation is needed among the three countries to counter North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile threats.

“Essentially, in the next year the chiefs of defense agreed to improve ballistic missile defenses, all wrapped up with better sharing of data, and to conduct routine exercises to ensure we have a coherent collective response to ballistic missile defense,” he said then.

Dunford noted in August 2017 that he considers the sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council on North Korea, such as a ban on exports and a cap on the number of its migrant workers, as an initial step to help stop the country from conducting ballistic missile tests.

He also called on the House Armed Services Committee members during a hearing on the fiscal 2018 budget request in June that the Defense Department needs a continued base budget increase of at least 3 percent above inflation to maintain the U.S. military advantage.

Dunford said at a Brookings Institution event in February 2017 that strategies against violent extremism and other international threats can help DoD prepare and support the joint force.

He also met with his Russian counterpart in February in Azerbaijan to address the condition of U.S.-Russia military relations as part of efforts to keep the communication lines open between the two countries’ armed forces.

Dunford became the 19th JCS chairman in 2015 after he previously served as commandant of the Marine Corps.

He previously served as assistant commandant of the service branch and head of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Executive Mosaic congratulates Dunford and the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their selection to receive this award.

Click here to view the full list of leaders recognized in the Wash100.

About The Wash100
This year represents our fifth annual Wash100 award selection. The Wash100 is the premier group of private and public sector leaders selected by Executive Mosaic’s organizational and editorial leadership as the most influential leaders in the GovCon sector. These leaders demonstrate skills in leadership, innovation, reliability, achievement, and vision.