**Lieutenant General Ricky Lynn Waddell, U.S. Army Reserve, Retired. Lieutenant General Waddell was born in Bentonville, AR, on 31 October 1959. After graduating from Bentonville High School in 1978, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in 1982 and commissioning as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army as an Engineer Officer. From 1982 to 1994, he served in various engineering units and staff positions across the United States and Latin America. His final assignments on active duty included serving as an Instructor in the Department of Social Sciences at the U.S. Military Academy and as Director of European Security Affairs on the National Security Council.

From 1994 to 2021, during his U.S. Army Reserve service, Lieutenant General Waddell held several prominent staff roles, including Deputy National Security Advisor to President Trump (2017–2018) and Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (2018–2021). Additional notable assignments include supporting U.S. Central Command and U.S. Forces–Korea. He has served as Special Assistant in the Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of the Army; Energy Sector Strategic Analyst for the U.S. Central Command; Special Advisor to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Tikrit, Iraq; Joint Strategic Planner for Multinational Force–Iraq Headquarters; Director of Oil, J9, U.S. Forces–Iraq; J4 (wartime), U.S. Forces–Korea; and Commander of the Combined Joint Interagency Task Force–Shafafiyat, NATO International Security Assistance Force, Kabul, Afghanistan.

In his civilian career, Lieutenant General Waddell spent 17 years in South America primarily working in the energy and mining industries. He is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force War College and holds a PhD in International Relations from Columbia University. He is also the author of four books on military history, focusing on Latin America and his experiences in the Army. Throughout his distinguished 39-year military career, Lieutenant General Waddell received numerous awards and decorations, including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, Army Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, among many others. He retired on 30 September 2021 and currently resides in Tavares, FL.