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Meet Our Reception Host and Keynote Speaker!
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LTC Robert W. Schaefer is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer (Green Beret), diplomat, and senior international defense expert with over 28 years working with senior foreign defense and military officials. He is a critically acclaimed, award-winning author, a consultant to several U.S. Government agencies, and a frequent commentator for major media and seminars focusing on terrorism and insurgency in Russia, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. He was the on-air Russian Security Analyst for NBC’s official coverage of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, and is one of the world’s foremost experts on enemy-centric counterinsurgency and counterterrorism approaches. His team identified a planned terrorist attack at the Sochi Olympics which Russian forces prevented – and subsequently made public after the Olympics had concluded. He is Managing Director of Phalanx Strategic Solutions and a founding partner of American Freedom Distillery (St Pete, FL).
He served in a variety of special units and participated in virtually every U.S. overseas operation since 1990. LTC(R) Schaefer was a Special Forces Engineering and Demolitions Sergeant before earning his commission in 1993, when he was awarded the Abrams Award as the top non-scholarship ROTC cadet in the United States. He is one of a handful of “double-sewn” Green Berets, having successfully completed the entire Special Forces course a second time as an officer, and being selected as both the Honor Graduate and the Leadership Award Winner. During his long Special Operations career he was handpicked for a number of classified, special, or politically sensitive missions, one of which resulted in his being awarded the Singlaub Award as US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Person of the Year for his historic achievements with Russian Airborne Forces. LTC(R) Schaefer is the first documented U.S. officer in history to lead Russian forces in combat operations; his team was the first U.S. Special Forces team in history to fire artillery in support of Russian forces, and the first U.S. unit of any kind to have done so since WWII. LTC Schaefer was also chosen as one of two primary planners and executors of the first unclassified mission of the U.S. War on Terror following 9-11, and later hand-picked to integrate the Ukrainian Special Purpose Battalion into Operation Iraqi Freedom – an extremely sensitive mission due to the political ramifications of Ukraine’s decision to support the U.S. coalition against Russia’s wishes. His Program of Instruction (POI) for counterterrorism and counterinsurgency was adopted as the standard POI by the Special Forces Command for all future deployments by U.S. Army Special Forces. He is an inaugural member of the University of Louisville’s ROTC Hall of Fame. He is one of the few living members of the SOCOM community to be mentioned by name in the official SOCOM History Book (pg 69).
LTC(R) Schaefer served in multiple diplomatic postings, most recently as the Military Attaché to the country of Estonia, where he was instrumental in creating both the Estonian Special Forces and the Estonian Cyber Defense Command. For his contributions to Estonia, he was awarded the Estonian Defense Forces Distinguished Service Cross, the Ministry of Defense’s Cross of Merit, and the White Cross of the Estonian Kaitseliit – the only foreigner in contemporary Estonian history to have been decorated by all three organizations. He has also served in U.S. Embassies in Moscow, Russia, and Kiev, Ukraine.
LTC(R) Schaefer earned his Masters Degree from Harvard University’s Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia Program, and is the host of National Public Radio’s Memorial Day Special 2007-2013. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the Caucasus Survey (a peer-reviewed professional journal) and served as a consultant to NBC for the 2014 Olympics. His critically-acclaimed book on terrorism in Russia, The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, From Gazavat to Jihad, won multiple national awards and was named a “Best of 2011” by Kirkus Reviews and to the “Top 150 Books on Terrorism and Counterterrorism.” He has also published numerous articles and edited volumes including The Fire Below, How the Caucasus Changed Russia, (Bloomsbury, 2013), and to Operation Homecoming (Random House, 2006). He is a certified leadership instructor multiple courses including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers, and the 7 Habits Leadership Implementation.
His last military posting was Chief of Central and South Asia Branch, International Military Affairs for Army Central Command, where he worked closely with senior foreign government and military leaders and managed a team of military and civilian specialists to develop, coordinate and implement bi-lateral security cooperation plans, build partner capacity, and improve the overall regional security environment for Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the North Arabian Sea.
He served in a variety of special units and participated in virtually every U.S. overseas operation since 1990. LTC(R) Schaefer was a Special Forces Engineering and Demolitions Sergeant before earning his commission in 1993, when he was awarded the Abrams Award as the top non-scholarship ROTC cadet in the United States. He is one of a handful of “double-sewn” Green Berets, having successfully completed the entire Special Forces course a second time as an officer, and being selected as both the Honor Graduate and the Leadership Award Winner. During his long Special Operations career he was handpicked for a number of classified, special, or politically sensitive missions, one of which resulted in his being awarded the Singlaub Award as US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) Person of the Year for his historic achievements with Russian Airborne Forces. LTC(R) Schaefer is the first documented U.S. officer in history to lead Russian forces in combat operations; his team was the first U.S. Special Forces team in history to fire artillery in support of Russian forces, and the first U.S. unit of any kind to have done so since WWII. LTC Schaefer was also chosen as one of two primary planners and executors of the first unclassified mission of the U.S. War on Terror following 9-11, and later hand-picked to integrate the Ukrainian Special Purpose Battalion into Operation Iraqi Freedom – an extremely sensitive mission due to the political ramifications of Ukraine’s decision to support the U.S. coalition against Russia’s wishes. His Program of Instruction (POI) for counterterrorism and counterinsurgency was adopted as the standard POI by the Special Forces Command for all future deployments by U.S. Army Special Forces. He is an inaugural member of the University of Louisville’s ROTC Hall of Fame. He is one of the few living members of the SOCOM community to be mentioned by name in the official SOCOM History Book (pg 69).
LTC(R) Schaefer served in multiple diplomatic postings, most recently as the Military Attaché to the country of Estonia, where he was instrumental in creating both the Estonian Special Forces and the Estonian Cyber Defense Command. For his contributions to Estonia, he was awarded the Estonian Defense Forces Distinguished Service Cross, the Ministry of Defense’s Cross of Merit, and the White Cross of the Estonian Kaitseliit – the only foreigner in contemporary Estonian history to have been decorated by all three organizations. He has also served in U.S. Embassies in Moscow, Russia, and Kiev, Ukraine.
LTC(R) Schaefer earned his Masters Degree from Harvard University’s Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia Program, and is the host of National Public Radio’s Memorial Day Special 2007-2013. He is a member of the Editorial Board for the Caucasus Survey (a peer-reviewed professional journal) and served as a consultant to NBC for the 2014 Olympics. His critically-acclaimed book on terrorism in Russia, The Insurgency in Chechnya and the North Caucasus, From Gazavat to Jihad, won multiple national awards and was named a “Best of 2011” by Kirkus Reviews and to the “Top 150 Books on Terrorism and Counterterrorism.” He has also published numerous articles and edited volumes including The Fire Below, How the Caucasus Changed Russia, (Bloomsbury, 2013), and to Operation Homecoming (Random House, 2006). He is a certified leadership instructor multiple courses including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Managers, and the 7 Habits Leadership Implementation.
His last military posting was Chief of Central and South Asia Branch, International Military Affairs for Army Central Command, where he worked closely with senior foreign government and military leaders and managed a team of military and civilian specialists to develop, coordinate and implement bi-lateral security cooperation plans, build partner capacity, and improve the overall regional security environment for Afghanistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the North Arabian Sea.