Maj. Gen. Walter D. Givhan is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Plans, Programs and Operations, in the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. General Givhan oversees the Bureau’s Offices of Plans, Policy and Analysis; Weapons Removal and Abatement; and International Security Operations. In this capacity, General Givhan is responsible for providing executive leadership, management, and guidance for U.S. government global security assistance programs and policies, such as Foreign Military Financing and the Global Peace Operations Initiative. He also oversees the Department of State’s conventional weapons destruction efforts, handles State-DoD coordination on significant military exercises, and helps to manage State-Defense personnel exchange matters.
Before assuming his current position, General Givhan served as Commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
General Givhan was commissioned in 1981 as a distinguished graduate of Air Force Officer Training School. A command pilot, he has logged more than 2,500 flying hours in T-37, T-38, T-1, AT-38, F-15 and A-10 aircraft. He served as the U.S. air liaison officer to the commanding general, French ground forces, for operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, and he led the effort to rebuild the Afghan air force as Commanding General of the Combined Air Power Transition Force. He has commanded a combat training squadron, an operations group, an air base wing and an air expeditionary wing. General Givhan's previous staff assignments include deputy military assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force; Chief of the Congressional Action Division for Air Force Legislative Liaison; Chief, Combat Forces Division, Directorate of Programs; and Director, Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff Executive Action Group, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He was also a Military Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a National Security Fellow in the Seminar XXI program conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
General Givhan graduated in 1981 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from the University of the South. He received a Master of Science degree in International Relations from Troy University in 1989, a Master of Airpower Art and Science degree from the School of Advanced Air and Space Studies in 1995, and Master of Science degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. in 2000. General Givhan’s major awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Meritorious Service medal, French Croix de Guerre with silver star, Southwest Asia Service Medal with two bronze stars, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, NATO Medal, and Kuwait Liberation Medal. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
