Major General Paul D. Eaton, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Senior Advisor
Major General Paul D. Eaton served more than 30 years in the United States Army, including combat and post-combat assignments in Iraq, Bosnia and Somalia. As a major general he was assigned to Iraq from 2003 to 2004 as Commanding General of the Coalition Military Assistance Training Team (CMATT), where he designed, manned, trained and equipped the Iraqi armed forces for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and the security forces for the Interior Ministry. Prior to that assignment, he commanded the Army’s Infantry Center and was Chief of Infantry for the Army. Eaton has appeared on a number of news and commentary programs including Face the Nation, Hardball and all major networks. During the 2008 campaign season, he advised candidates for both congressional and presidential campaigns. He holds a bachelor’s degree from West Point and a master’s in French Political Science from Middlebury College. He is married to PJ, has two sons and a daughter, all soldiers.
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In the News
Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton (Ret.) Quoted in Military.com on Netanyahu’s Visit to Congress
Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, now a senior advisor with National Security Network, a Washington, DC-based foreign policy think tank, said the Netanyahu invitation feeds into the hard-line views on all sides.
Paul Eaton Quoted In Haaretz On Benjamin Netanyahu’s Planned Congress Appearance
“This is a very tough negotiation, with significant mistrust on both sides. We need to do everything we can to prevent undermining our negotiators.”
Paul Eaton Cheers Continuing Demise of Iran Sanctions Bill
January 21, 2015 | Vet Voice Foundation Washington, DC – With rumors swirling that sponsors of an Iran sanctions bill are struggling to find Democratic support, and a veto threat issued by President Obama in last night’s State of the Union, a major veterans organization is optimistic that diplomatic efforts to end Iran’s nuclear ambitions […]
Paul Eaton Quoted in 7 News on American and Iraqi Military Response to ISIS
General Eaton oversaw the last US mission to train Iraq’s military after the fall of Saddam Hussein.He likens the current attempt to reconstruct the army during this conflict to “building an airplane in flight.” Islamic State: US facing long war to retake Iraqi territory and defeat Islamist insurgents By Michael Vincent January 12, 2015 | 7 News […]
Paul Eaton quoted by Sputnik International on Possible Syrian Peace Talks with Russia
US ‘Better Off’ Negotiating Syrian Peace Talks With Russia: Major General December 13, 2014 | Sputnik International “The US administration should use every opportunity to negotiate a Syrian peace deal with Russia, retired Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton has told Sputnik. ‘Any opportunity that you can sit down and talk, and negotiate with your friends or opponents, the better off we are,’ Eaton said Friday when asked whether the Obama administration […]
Paul Eaton Discusses CIA Torture Report on Newsmax
Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton: Torture Endangers National Security December 11, 2014 | Newsmax To see the full interview, click here.
Paul Eaton on SiriusXM Morning Briefing Discussing CIA Torture
December 10, 2014 | SiriusXM Morning Briefing For the original site, click here.
Paul Eaton Discusses CIA Torture Report with MSNBC’s Ronan Farrow
Gen. Eaton: US ‘lost moral high ground’ December 10, 2014 | MSNBC To watch the full interview, click here.
Paul Eaton Quoted by Breaking Defense on Training the Syrian Opposition
Proxy War Protocols: How to Make Syrian Opposition Work By James Kitfield November 11, 2014 | Breaking Defense “I think the best model is what our Special Operations Forces and CIA paramilitary accomplished when they married U.S. airpower to the Northern Alliance fighters in 2001, and rapidly toppled the Taliban in Afghanistan. That’s where I think […]
Paul Eaton Quoted in Foreign Policy on the Syrian and Iraqi Militaries
Do Iraq and Syria No Longer Exist, and if so?: Yes, and that’s a big reason why their militaries simply won’t be effective By Thomas E. Ricks October 28, 2014 | Foreign Policy Paul Eaton, a retired Army major general who oversaw the training of the Iraqi military from 2003 to 2004: “Creating a soldier […]
Paul Eaton Quoted by Agence France-Presse on Training Afghan Army
To avoid Iraq-style chaos, U.S. must back Afghans, experts warn By Nicholas Revise and Daniel De Lucel October 3, 2014 | Agence France-Presse Washington will have to stand by Afghanistan for years, training and funding its army until Kabul can sign a peace deal with the Taliban, or it will follow Iraq in sliding into chaos, experts warn. The […]
Paul Eaton Quoted by the New York Times on Obama’s ISIS Strategy
A White House Position That Stands on a Narrow Definition of War By Mark Landler September 18, 2014 | New York Times The American advisers are armed, and if they are shot at by the enemy, they are authorized to return fire. In a close combat advisory role in a city, experts said, the American […]
Paul Eaton Quoted by the New York Times on the Islamic State
U.S. General Open to Ground Forces in Fight Against ISIS in Iraq By Mark Landler and Jeremy Peters September 16, 2014 | New York Times The challenge will come, General Dempsey said, when Iraqi and Kurdish forces try to drive the militants out of densely populated urban areas like Mosul. In those cases, General Dempsey […]
Paul Eaton on CNN Discussing ISIS Strategy with Candy Crowley
Major Gen. Paul Eaton discusses ISIS strategy on State of the Union with Candy Crowley September 14, 2014 | CNN For the original interview, click here
Paul Eaton Discussing Obama’s ISIS Strategy on Gannet’s Defense News
Major Gen. Paul Eaton interviewed by Gannet’s Defense News with Vago Muradian on President Obama’s ISIS Strategy September 12, 2014 | Gannet’s Defense News For the original interview, click here
Paul Eaton Quoted in Stars and Stripes on Retraining the Iraqi Army
Paul Eaton Quoted in Stars and Stripes on Retraining the Iraqi Army Retraining Iraq’s fractured army: Will it work this time? By Heath Druzin September 11, 2014 | Stars and Stripes Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who oversaw training of the Iraqi forces in the early days of the Iraq War, said that after […]
Paul Eaton on BBC Radio News Discussing the Islamic State
September 11, 2014 | BBC Radio News The World Tonight For the original piece, click here.
Paul Eaton Quoted in AFP on Training Forces in Iraq and Syria
US hopes training local forces will work – this time September 11, 2014 | AFP Dating back to Vietnam, US attempts to construct professional armies often have faltered, usually because the local leaders see the military as a means of holding on to power rather than defending the country, experts say. The most recent failure […]
Paul Eaton Interviewed by CNBC’s Fast Money on ISIS
September 11, 2014 | CNBC’s Fast Money Major Gen. Paul Eaton shares his view of President Obama’s strategies against ISIS, and the opportunity for other countries to step up. To see the original post, click here.
Paul Eaton Quoted in New York Times on ISIS Strategy
New Military Campaign Extends a Legacy of War By Peter Baker September 10, 2014 | The New York Times Barry Pavel, a former Obama national security aide now at the Atlantic Council, said the president might be acting too tentatively. “I’m not sure half-steps into Syria are ultimately going to achieve the president’s goals,” he […]
