A retired US Army general will help coordinate the massive effort to deliver weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, the White House announced on Friday. Veteran Pentagon policy planner Terry Wolff, who previously oversaw Washington’s aid to militants in Syria, was brought onto the National Security Council after a group of senators urged President Joe Biden to put someone in charge of the program.
Wolff “recently” joined the NSC, a spokesman told reporters on Friday, noting the retired three-star general’s previous experience with the White House body, as well as the State Department, the Pentagon and the Joint Staff.
An armor officer by training, Wolff spent almost a decade in Germany and did three tours in Iraq between 2003 and 2010, including with the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team. His final assignment before retirement in February 2014 was as director of strategic plans and policy (J-5) for the Joint Staff, for more than two years.
Wolff then joined the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies (NESA), an outfit at the National Defense University, but took a sabbatical in November 2015 to serve the Obama administration as the deputy special envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL (aka Islamic State, ISIS).
“His experience as the deputy for the Defeat [IS] Coalition will be amazing in making sure this coalition maintains momentum,” one official told CNN.