(Photo by: U.S. Defense Department)  Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder is the new Pentagon Press Secretary

By  Gary  Raynaldo   –   DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

PENTAGON   –   WASHINGTON  DC  –   Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced that Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a veteran spokesman at the Pentagon, will be the department’s next press secretary. The move will place a uniformed member of the military in a position typically held by a civilian. Ryder replaces John Kirby, who left the Pentagon in May to become the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications.  Ryder served as spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 2017 to 2019.  Ryder worked for Austin from 2013 to 2016 as his top spokesman at U.S. Central Command when Austin was the commander.  Brig. Gen. Ryder was commissioned in 1992 through the Air Force ROTC program at the University of Florida in Gainesville.  His staff assignments include serving as the Special Assistant for Public Affairs to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Director of Public Affairs for U.S. Central Command, Director of Media Operations for the Secretary of the Air Force Office of Public Affairs, and Director of Public Affairs for the Office of Defense Representative-Pakistan.  While at U.S. Central Command, Brig. Gen. Ryder oversaw the command-wide public affairs operations in support of the counter-ISIS campaign Operation Inherent Resolve from 2014-2016 and conducted bi-weekly press briefings with the Pentagon press corps from Headquarters U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida.

“Today, I named Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder as the next Pentagon press secretary. Pat will fill a critical role, leading our efforts to provide timely, accurate information to the media, and through the media to the American people. The Pentagon press secretary performs a critical role, leading department-wide efforts to uphold the DoD Principles of Information and to ensure the news media can carry out its unique and invaluable role in our democratic system. He brings a wealth of experience, including joint and deployed assignments that will serve him well as he informs the media of our activities around the world.”

-U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin

(Photo by Gary Raynaldo  /  ©Diplomatic Times /  Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby briefs reporters at the Pentagon on the Russia-Ukraine situation in Washington DC. May 13, 2022. 

President Biden in May announced that John Kirby, who was then  the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs, would be the new National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the White House.   Biden said Kirby will coordinate interagency efforts to explain United States policy and will serve as a senior administration voice on related matters, including as appropriate at the White House podium. This position is housed at the NSC and reports to the National Security Advisor.  

Kirby previously served at the Department of State, as the Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Public Affairs from December 2015 to January 2017 and as the State Department’s spokesperson from May 2015 to January 2017. Prior to the State Department, Kirby served as the Pentagon Press Secretary under Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel.  Kirby commissioned in the U.S. Navy in September 1986 and served in uniform for more than 28 years, before retiring in 2015 at the rank of Rear Admiral.