By Jason Tudor
GCMC Public Affairs

Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany – The George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies here will receive a new director in December, the first change in the position in eight years.

Lt. Gen. Keith W. Dayton, who retires from the U.S. Army Dec. 1, takes over from Dr. John P. Rose on Dec. 6. General Dayton comes to the Marshall Center after serving as the U.S. security coordinator to Israel and Palestine since 2005.

Dr. Rose has served as the Marshall Center’s director since November 2002.

“I look forward to the opportunity of serving at the Marshall Center. As Dr. Rose departs, he leaves behind an immense legacy of building partnerships and growth of the center’s mission,” General Dayton said. “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s worthy work that our staff, German partners, alumni and valued friends across the globe can accomplish together.”

General Dayton was commissioned as an artillery officer in the Army in 1970. He has served in a variety of staff and command positions. He came to Garmisch in 1979 and studied at the U.S. Army Russian Institute, the predecessor to the Marshall Center.

Since then, he has served as politico-military staff officer for the Army in Washington D.C.; U.S. Defense Attaché in Russia; and deputy director for politico-military affairs, Western Hemisphere, Europe and Africa, for the J-5 division of the joint staff in Washington D.C.

General Dayton also worked as director for operations and deputy director for human intelligence for the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington D.C., including duty as director of the Iraqi Survey Group for Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq; and went on to direct the strategy, plans and policy division for the Department of the Army before his assignment to Tel Aviv in December, 2005.

In addition to his politico-military experience, General Dayton has held command four times as an artillery officer, and been an operations officer and executive officer during his career. He earned a Senior Service College Fellowship to Harvard University, and served as the Senior Army Fellow on the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

His military awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster.

General Dayton has a Bachelor of Science degree in history from the College of William and Mary, a Master’s Degree in history from Cambridge University, and a Master’s Degree in international relations from the University of Southern California. He speaks German and Russian.