Douglas Macgregor

Douglas Abbott Macgregor (born January 4, 1947) is a retired colonel in the United States Army, former government official, author, consultant, and political commentator. An Armor Branch officer by background, Macgregor was a leader in an early tank battle in the Gulf War and was a top planner in the 1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. His 1997 book Breaking the Phalanx argued for radical reforms inside the United States Army. After retiring from the military in 2004, Macgregor became more politically active. In 2020, president Donald Trump proposed him as the U.S. ambassador to Germany, but the U.S. Senate blocked the nomination. On November 11, 2020, a Pentagon spokesperson announced that Macgregor had been hired to serve as senior advisor to the acting secretary of defense, a post he held for less than three months. Trump also appointed him to the board of the U.S. Military Academy, but the appointment was terminated by president Joe Biden in 2021. Macgregor's commentary has been noted for placing a lower significance on Ukraine, illegal immigrants and refugees than competing priorities in terms of overall U.S. foreign relations considerations.