Kenneth P. Bergquist

Kenneth P. Bergquist

Brigadier General, U.S. Army (Ret)

Brigadier General Bergquist has extensive experience in senior policy positions with the Executive and Legislative Branches of the Federal Government; military service in Special Operations and Counterterrorism; and, in the private sector as an expert consultant in crisis management and risk mitigation. He has unique and extensive expertise and experience within the interagency processes of the United States Government, as well as with national defense, security, intelligence, and terrorism issues.<br /> <br /> General Bergquist graduated from Stanford University in 1967 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and has a law degree, with honors, from the University of Texas. His combined military and federal service includes two years of combat duty in the Republic of Vietnam and Cambodia during which service he received the Silver Star, six Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Combat Infantryman Badge, and various other awards for valor. General Bergquist is also a qualified Special Forces Officer, Ranger, Master Freefall Parachutist, Special Operations Diver and is a resident graduate of the Army War College. <br /> <br /> After leaving active duty and completing law school, General Bergquist served as an intelligence and paramilitary officer with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Following service in the CIA, General Bergquist was selected to be the Legislative Counsel on the personal staff of Senator Alan K. Simpson and later was appointed as Chief Counsel and Staff Director of the Veteran's Affairs Committee of the United States Senate. <br /> <br /> After President Reagan assumed office, General Bergquist was appointed to serve in the following positions: Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army (Manpower and Reserve Affairs) and, thereafter, as Deputy Assistant Attorney General (Legislative Affairs). In 1988 General Bergquist was nominated by President Reagan and confirmed by the United States Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (Manpower and Reserve Affairs). In the follow-on George Bush Administration, General Bergquist served as the Associate Coordinator of Counterterrorism at the United States Department of State where he was responsible for coordinating the interagency response to act of terrorism directed against United States interests.<br /> <br /> In 1993 and 1994 General Bergquist attended the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Thereafter, he commenced the practice of law in the State of Florida.<br /> <br /> In January 2000, at the request of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Commander of Special Operations Command, General Bergquist was recalled to active duty to serve as the first President of Joint Special Operations University. As such, he was responsible for the education of senior and intermediate Special Operations Forces personnel and for the coordination of the education of other senior personnel in the application of Joint Special Forces Operations in both strategic and operational settings. <br /> <br /> As a consequence of the terrorist attack on the United States on September 11, 2001, General Bergquist was detailed for special duty as the Special Operations Staff Director for United States Central Command during Operation 'Enduring Freedom' in Afghanistan. In this position, he was responsible for staff management of the Unconventional Warfare and Special Operations campaign in Afghanistan and was instrumental in interagency coordination and preparing daily briefings for the Secretary of Defense based on interaction with field commanders in the war zone. General Bergquist retired from the military in July 2002 after more than thirty-five years of service in both active and reserve capacities.<br /> <br /> Subsequent to his retirement from military service in 2002, General Bergquist served as Chief Operating Officer of Security Identification Systems Corporation (SISCO), a security industry leader in the development and installation of automated access control and identification verification systems. From 2004 through 2008 General Bergquist served as an advisor to the Kingdom of Jorden in crisis management and in the development and establishment of a Jordanian, national-level, crisis management center. <br /> <br /> In 2008, General Bergquist became Vice President for Operations and General Counsel of Jankel Tactical Systems, a defense start-up company in South Carolina. During his tenure at Jankel, General Bergquist was instrumental in generating $165M in military contracts for the production of blast attenuating seats for the fleet of United States armored vehicles in both Iraq and Afghanistan. These new seats were instrumental in significantly reducing deaths, traumatic brain injury and other impulse injury to armored vehicle mounted soldiers and marines subjected to Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack.<br /> <br /> General Bergquist returned to the practice of law in 2012 and is a member of both the Florida State Bar and the Commonwealth of Virginia Bar. He is married to Jane Plewes Bergquist of San Antonio, Texas, and has two adult daughters. He is also an avid masters swimmer.