Brig Gen (ret) Peter Zwack

Brigadier General Peter B. Zwack {Ret.} is a retired U.S. Army veteran, having served over 34 years as a Military Intelligence and Foreign Area Officer in diverse command and staff postings such as Afghanistan, the Balkans, South Korea West Germany, and Russia. He served in Moscow as the Senior U.S. Defense Attaché to Russia during the pivotal years of 2012 – 2014 that included the Russian invasion of Ukraine and is one of our nation’s leading experts on Russia.

For over three decades (1989-2021) BG Zwack frequently traveled both professionally and personally across Eurasia’s vast landscape from the Atlantic to Pacific, and arid southern regions to the Arctic Circle. He first visited Georgia in 1991 during the final days of the USSR.  During this period he interacted with international colleagues on multiple levels including defense, security, academia, policy, veterans, and private citizens. His written and spoken insights are based on his over 30-years of analytical and in-country USSR-Russia experiences that began with an extraordinary summer spent in 1989 as a young U.S. Army Captain studying Russian and culture in the provincial Soviet city of Kalinin on the Volga River.

BG Zwack currently is a Global Fellow at The Kennan Institute within the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars which is the premier American center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasian. He also is a Visiting Fellow for the Perry World House at the University of Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Fellow at the Pell Center for International Studies. From these perches he lectures, publishes, and speaks while also participating in non-governmental “Track II” exchanges between retired American and International governmental, academic and cultural professionals. He also is an international relations graduate from the University of Denver, and received Masters degrees in National Security at both the Defense Intelligence College and Naval War College.

BG Zwack enlisted in the US Army in 1980 and received his commission via Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Fort Benning, Georgia. He subsequently served 34 years as a Military Intelligence and Eurasian Foreign Area Officer in diverse and challenging duty locations including Afghanistan, Kosovo, South Korea, Germany and Russia. Inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame in 2015, BG Zwack is a recipient of the Bronze Star, Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit and numerous other awards and decorations. He was also honored as the Joint Chiefs of Staff “Action Officer of the Year” in 1999 and proudly wears Airborne Wings and the Ranger tab.

After his military retirement in 2015 he wrote, lectured, advised, and taught at The National Defense University, lecturing on a wide range of topics to high school, college, graduate students and governmental and interagency members at a wide range of institutions.

He speaks Russian, German, Italian and is conversant in French.  From Newport, RI he is married with three children.