Retired May 1, 1992.

Brigadier General John W. Douglass is the deputy U.S. military representative to the NATO Military Committee, Headquarters NATO, Brussels, Belgium. The U.S. military representative to NATO is the highest ranking U.S. military official at NATO and is directly responsible to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C.

General Douglass was born in Miami in 1941. He earned an associate of arts degree in 1961 and a bachelor of science degree in engineering in 1963, both from the University of Florida. He then received a master of science degree in industrial engineering from Texas Tech University in 1967 and a master of science degree, cum laude, in management science from Fairleigh Dickinson University in 1972. The general also was a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Army Defense Procurement Management Course. He has done postgraduate work at the Cornell University Center for International Studies, where he was an Air Force research fellow with the peace studies program.

The general was commissioned as a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program in 1963. His initial assignment was to Norton Air Force Base, Calif., as a production officer on the Titan 11 intercontinental ballistic missile. After his assignment to Texas Tech through the Air Force Institute of Technology program in 1967, he was assigned to Mactan Airfield, Philippines, as the base procurement officer.

General Douglas returned to the United States in 1968 and was assigned to Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo., as chief of base procurement. In 1969 he was appointed deputy chief of the Defense Contract Administration Office, Curtiss-Wright Corp., N.Y., where he worked with the Navy nuclear propulsion program and various Air Force jet engine overhaul programs. In 1973 he was assigned to the Eastern Space and Missile Range, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla., as a procurement staff officer. From 1975 to 1977 he held various procurement positions on the staff of the Air Force chief of staff and with the Program Management Assistance Group at Headquarters Air Force Systems Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

In 1977 he was named deputy program manager for business and acquisition of the Joint Cruise Missile Project, Crystal City, Va. He left in 1980 to do postgraduate work at Cornell University.

General Douglass was named special assistant to the under secretary of defense for research and engineering, Washington, D.C., in 1981. He joined the staff of the National Security Council in May 1984 as director of defense programs. He had primary staff responsibility for the president's strategic modernization program, Department of Defense research and development issues, weapon system acquisition issues, and management and execution of certain high technology programs. In March 1988 he was appointed director of program planning and integration, and acting director of science and technology, Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Washington, D.C. He assumed his present position in August 1989.

He is qualified as an Air Force program manager, plans and programming officer, international political-military affairs officer, and procurement and contracting officer.

The general's military awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, and Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster. He also received the Distinguished Service Award from the Federal Business Association of New York and is a member of the National Industrial Engineering Honor Society.

He was promoted to brigadier general July 1, 1989, with same date of rank.

(Current as of March 1990)