Prior to assuming his duties on November 16, 2002, as the Director, George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, Dr. John Rose was an operations director with Computer Sciences Corporation Defense Group in Falls Church, Virginia. A retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen., Dr. Rose has thirty-four years of international, operational, academic, business and strategic planning experience. Upon retirement from active duty in May 1998, Dr. Rose became the president of Army Business Operations with Nichols Research Corporation in Arlington, Virginia.

Among his previous assignments, Dr. Rose directed a multinational staff from 12 NATO nations to determine post Cold War defense strategy, Alliance Military Force Structure and Readiness Requirements (NATO, SHAPE, Belgium), and commanded NATO Air Defense Artillery units at the Brigade and Battalion level in joint and combined operations in Germany. He has served as an assistant professor of International Relations and Defense and Strategic Studies at West Point and taught at the graduate level at the Naval Post Graduate School. He also served two separate tours at the Pentagon in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans.

Dr. Rose attended Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, under a National Security Fellowship (1985-1986). Notable assignments include serving as a Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, in New York (1991-1992), and on President-elect Reagan's Defense Transition Team (1980-1981). He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in International Relations from the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and a B.S. in Accounting from the University of Dayton, Dayton, Ohio.

Dr. Rose's published works include The Evolution of U.S. Army Nuclear Doctrine, 1945-1980 (1980) and ten journal articles on nuclear strategy, military doctrine, and long range planning.