General Tod D. Wolters is a distinguished fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security. He consults with Jones Group International and Northrop Grumman. In 2022, Wolters completed a distinguished forty-year active-duty career in the US Air Force (ASAF) as the supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR) and commander US European command (EUCOM). As the SACEUR, he led Europe’s transition out of Afghanistan, ensured the COVID-19 health crisis did not transform into a security crisis, and led NATO’s military allies and partners through the organization’s response to the largest invasion of a European nation since World War II. He united military activities alongside leadership of all thirty NATO member nations and was instrumental in advancing the future transitions of Sweden and Finland into NATO. In addition to commanding all European military forces, Wolters worked closely with presidents, ambassadors, and chiefs of defense to improve their nations’ abilities to defend and generate peace. His comprehensive approach dramatically improved the security disposition of the European continent.

Prior to his leadership position at NATO and EUCOM, Wolters served as the commander, US Air Forces Europe, commander US Air Forces Africa, commander NATO Allied Air Command and director Joint Air Power Competence Center from 2016 to 2019. General Wolters has also served as the director of operations of the US Joint Staff, director of operations of the US Air Force, commander 12th Air Force/Air Component Command US Southern Command, director, legislative liaison/US Air Force, deputy commander of US and NATO Air Forces Afghanistan, director of operations US Air Force Space Command, and as a deputy commander for Combined Security Assistance Command Afghanistan.

Additionally, Wolters served in key leadership positions at the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of the United States military. These positions included command of three tactical air wings, a fighter group, a fighter squadron and staff positions at USAF Headquarters and US Pacific Command. Wolters has fought and commanded during Operations Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), and Southern Watch (Iraq). His awards and decorations include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal. Additionally, Wolters has logged more than five thousand flight hours, primarily in the F-15C, F-22, OV-10, T-38, and A-10 aircrafts.

Wolters graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1982. His military education includes the US Air Force Fighter Weapons School, Air Command and Staff College, Armed Forces Staff College, and the US Army War College. He holds master’s degrees from Embry-Riddle Aero University and the US Army War College. Additionally, Wolters previously served as a senior executive fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.