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Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs

Jose D. Riojas

Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security, and Preparedness

Jose (Joe) Riojas became Assistant Secretary for Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP) for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on May 20, 2009.

As Assistant Secretary for OSP, Mr. Riojas directs VA Emergency Management, Security, and Law Enforcement Programs to ensure the Department can continue to perform mission essential functions under all circumstances across the threat spectrum.

His former post at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he was vice president of strategic initiatives, included strategic initiatives in the areas of border security, defense systems, and economic development.

Mr. Riojas also served as the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Center of Excellence for Border Security and Immigration and as the executive director for the Center for Defense Systems Research, a Department of Defense research center headquartered in El Paso.

A Kansas City, Mo., native, Mr. Riojas began his military career after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery in 1976.

During a 30-year Army career, General Riojas served in numerous and significant operational and command assignments throughout the world including Korea, Germany and Southwest Asia (Desert Shield and Desert Storm). Some of his unique assignments include Political and Military Affairs officer with the U.S. Department of State, Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, Washington, D.C.; service as the senior assistant professor of military science at Bowling Green State University, Ohio; and while with Pacific Command, project manager of the Extending the Littoral Battlespace, Advanced Concepts Technology Demonstration.

At the Pentagon, he served as Chief of Army Requirements and was the Army’s representative at the Joint Requirements Oversight Panel as part of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council. During his last two years in the Pentagon, he served as Executive Officer to the Chief of Staff of the Army. He then served as the Assistant Division Commander for the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized), Fort Stewart, Ga.

From 2004 to 2006, Riojas commanded Joint Task Force North (JTF-N), headquartered at Fort Bliss, Texas. As commander of JTF-N, his geographical area of responsibility included Canada, Mexico and the 48 contiguous states. The command was comprised of Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps personnel from active, reserve and National Guard components along with representatives from the interagency community. JTF-N’s mission was to provide Department of Defense resources throughout the continental United States in support of law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels to more effectively interdict transnational threats such as terrorists, weapons of mass destruction, aliens from special interest countries and narco-terrorists.

Mr. Riojas and his wife, Susan, have a son and a daughter. Joshua is an Army Captain, serving in Special Operations at Fort Bragg, N.C. Christina is an Army Captain, serving as an Army Surgeon at the Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Ga.

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