- Shimon Peres
"' (born Szymon Perski"' on August 2, 1923 in eastern Poland) is the 9th President of the State of Israel. He is a senior Israeli statesman with a political career spanning more than 65 years. He joined the Knesset in November 1959 and, except for a three-month-long hiatus in early 2006, served continuously until June 13, 2007, the day he was elected President of Israel.
- Sergei Ivanov
Sergei Borisovich Ivanov (born January 31, 1953, Leningrad) is a first deputy prime minister of Russia and former minister of defense (March 2001 - February 2007). Previously, as secretary of the Russian Security Council, Ivanov served as an adviser to President Boris Yeltsin and later President Vladimir Putin (November 1999-March 2001) on matters of national security.
- Irakli Okruashvili
Irakli Okhruashvili (born in 1973 in Tskhinvali, Georgia) has served as the Deputy Minister of Justice, Prosecutor General, Minister of Internal Affairs, Defense Minister, and most recently was appointed as the Minister for Economic Development before his resignation after one week from the appointment. Irakli Okruashvili graduated from Tbilisi State University, Faculty of International Law and Relations. After graduation Mr. Okruashvili worked as an attorney.
- Shamil Basayev
Shamil Salmanovich Basayev was a Vice-President of the internationally unrecognized separatist government of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, Islamist guerrilla leader, self-admitted terrorist and a national hero for many Chechens. He led guerrilla campaigns against Russia for years as well as launching several mass-casualty attacks against Russian civilians with his goal being the withdrawal of Russian soldiers from Chechnya.
- V. K. Krishna Menon
Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (3 May 1897 - 6 October 1974) was an Indian nationalist and politician.
- Mullah Obaidullah Akhund
Mullah Obaidullah, the Akhund was the defence minister under the Taliban government in Afghanistan and later became an insurgent commander during the war with the United States and its allies. He was reported captured by Pakistani security forces on March 2, 2007. Obaidullah was born in the Panjwai district of Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.
- Søren Gade
Søren Gade is a Danish politician and has served as Defence Minister representing the Liberal party, Venstre since April 24 2004, when he replaced Svend Aage Jensby. He has been a Liberal member of the Danish Parliament since 2001. Before entering politics, he was a military officer and businessman.
- Anatoly Kvashnin
General of the Army Anatoly Vasiliyevich Kvashnin (born 1946) was the Chief of the Russian General Staff from 1997 to 2004, when he was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin. As of 2007, he served as the President's Representative in the Siberian Federal District. As Chief of the Russian General Staff he had some success in reforming the command structure for the strategic deterrent forces, but feuded with Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov and many of his subordinates.
- Kwame Addo-Kufuor
Doctor Kwame Addo-Kufuor (born 14 July 1940 in Kumasi, Ashanti Region) is a Ghanaian politician and physician. Addo-Kufuor is a member of parliament from Manhyia and, since January 2001, the Defence Minister under President John Kufuor.
- Moven Mahachi
Moven Enock Mahachi (1952 - 2001) served as the Defence Minister of Zimbabwe. He was a close ally of Robert Mugabe within Zimbabwe African National Union - Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF). Before becoming Defence Minister Mahachi served as Member of Parliament for Makoni West. Mahachi was killed on May 26, 2001 when his Range Rover came off the road. At the time Zimbabweans considered his death suspicious, especially as Mahachi died thirty days after another Member of Parliament, …
- Svend Aage Jensby
Svend Aage Jensby is a Danish politician representing the Liberal Party. He was Defence Minister in the Cabinet of Anders Fogh Rasmussen I from November 27 2001 to April 24 2004, when he was forced to resign and was replaced by Søren Gade. He was a member of parliament (Folketinget) from December 12 1990 to February 2005.
- Anatoliy Hrytsenko
Anatoliy Hrytsenko, (born October 25 1957) is the current Minister of Defence of Ukraine.
- Volker Rühe
Volker Rühe is a German politician affiliated with the 'CDU'. He served as German Defence minister from April 1, 1992, succeeding Gerhard Stoltenberg during the first government of a reunified Germany in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Kohl, to the end of the fifth Kohl Cabinet on October 27, 1998. He unsuccessfully ran for the premiership of "Schleswig-Holstein" in the year 2000. From 1976 to 2005 he was a member of the German "Bundestag".
- Jorge Alberto Uribe
Jorge Alberto Uribe Echavarría is a Colombian politician and businessman. He was educated at primary and secondary schools in Colombia, with two years spent at Culver Military Academy in the United States. He completed a first degree in economics at George Washington University in the USA and did post-graduate work in international marketing at Besançon University in France. He served as his country's minister of defense, succeeding Martha Lucía Ramírez, …
- Perrin Beatty
Henry Perrin Beatty, PC (born June 1, 1950) is a corporate executive and former Canadian politician. Perrin Beatty first won election to the Canadian House of Commons as a Progressive Conservative at the age of 22 in the 1972 election. He is a graduate of Upper Canada College in Toronto, Ontario, and of the University of Western Ontario in London.
- Bansi Lal
Chaudhary Bansi Lal (Hindi: चौधरी बंसी लाल) was an Indian freedom fighter, senior Congress leader, former Chief Minister of Haryana and considered by many to be the architect of modern Haryana. He was born in Golagarh village in Bhiwani district of Haryana. He served three separate terms as Chief Minister of Haryana: 1968-75, 1985-87, and 1996-99.
- Michel Murr
Michel Murr is a Lebanese politician and businessman. He occupied the post of Minister of the Interior in the 1990s and early 2000s. He was born in Bteghrine, Lebanon in 1932. His son, Elias Murr, is the outgoing Lebanese Deputy Prime Minister and the Defence Minister.
- Yoshinori Ohno
Yoshinori Ohno is Japan's Minister of State for Defense in Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Cabinet, and is in charge of Defense Agency.
- Khalid bin Sultan
"'Khalid bin Sultan (1949-), eldest son of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan, attended the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst and the US Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. He is also a graduate of the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. After a lengthy tenure in different branches of Saudi Arabia's armed forces, Prince-General Khalid, …
- Robert Coates
Robert Carman Coates, PC, QC, BA, LL.B, LL.D (born March 10 1928) is a former Canadian politician and Cabinet minister. Coates was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1957 election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Cumberland, Nova Scotia. Coates was a backbencher during the John Diefenbaker and Joe Clark governments.
- Virginia Trioli
Virginia Frances Trioli (born August 16 1964) is an Australian journalist and author. Born in Bendigo, she attended Donvale High School and graduated from Latrobe University in the 1980s, with a Bachelor of Arts degree with a Fine Arts major in cinema. She worked as a publicist for a book publisher, then at the Victorian Ethnic Affairs Commission prior to starting at The Age in 1990. For three years she was President of The Age's chapter of the union, …
- Qadir Obeidi
Lt. Gen. Abdul Qadir Mohammed Jassim Obeidi al-Mifarji' is the Defence Minister of Iraq in the Council of Ministers of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. He was born in Ramadi and is a Sunni Arab former general in the army of Saddam Hussein. He told the Council of Representatives that he had been demoted after opposing the 1990 invasion of Kuwait and was sentenced to seven years jail in 1994. In 2003, he joined the new Iraqi army, …
- František Kašický
František Kašický is a defence minister of Slovakia (since July 4, 2006). He is a former chief of Office of the Minister of Defence, Director of Communication Department and the ministry spokesman. Since 2003 till 2004, Kašický was a director of Military Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence.
- Thomas Aguiyi-Ironsi
Thomas "Tom" Aguiyi-Ironsi is the Minister of Defence of Nigeria. He is the son of former military leader Major General Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi, and was the ambassador to Togo before former President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed him to succeed Roland Oritsejafor as Defence Minister. Aguiyi-Ironsi is from Umuahia, Abia State. While Aguiyi-Ironsi was ambassador to Togo, the choices to replace the outgoing Foreign Minister, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, …
- Boris Gromov
Boris Vsevolodovich Gromov, (born November 7, 1943 in Saratov, Russia), prominent military and political figure, Colonel-General. He graduated from a Suvorov military cadet school, the Leningrad Military Commanders School and later from the Frunze Military Academy in Moscow, as well as the General Staff Academy. During the Soviet war in Afghanistan, Gromov did three tours of duty (1980-1982, 1985-1986, 1987-1989), …
- Yashwantrao Chavan
Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (12 March 1913 - 25 November 1984) was the first Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the division of Bombay State, and subsequently Deputy Prime Minister of India. He was Chief Minister of Maharashtra from May 1, 1960 to November 19, 1962. Yashwantrao Chavan was born in the village of Devrashtre in Karad Taluka of Satara District of Maharashtra State of India. He was from poor Maratha family.
- Lena Hjelm-Wallén
Lena Hjelm-Wallen is a Swedish social democratic politician. She was born in Sala, Sweden. She served as foreign minister from 1994 to 1998 and then became deputy prime minister. In September 2002 she became defence minister but left this position one month later.
- Faisal Al-Fayez
Faisal al-Fayez was the Prime Minister of Jordan from 25 October, 2003, to 6 April 2005. He took office following the resignation of Ali Abu al-Ragheb and himself resigned after being criticized for not being reformist enough. He previously served as Defence Minister, and is close to the king. He was educated at the College De La Salle, Amman, Jordan (1970) and then went on to Cardiff University, Wales where he received a degree in Political Science in 1978.
- Dmitry Kholodov
Dmitry Kholodov was a journalist of the Russian newspaper Moskovskii Komsomolets, killed as he was investigating alleged corruption among high ranks of the Russian military. In his published articles, Kholodov claimed the then Defence Minister Pavel Grachev was involved in corruption cases during the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Eastern Germany in the beginning of the 1990s. None of the charges were ever proven in court.
- Johnson Aguiyi-Ironsi
Major General Johnson Thomas Umunnakwe Aguiyi-Ironsi was a Nigerian soldier. He served as the Head of State of Nigeria from January 16, 1966 until he was overthrown and killed in a coup d'état on July 29, 1966.
- Abdurrahim Wardak
General Abdurrahim Wardak was appointed Defence Minister of Afghanistan on December 23 2004. Before this appointment Wardak was deputy Defence Minister to Mohammed Fahim. A member of the Pashtun ethnic group, Wardak fought against the Soviet Union during their invasion of Afghanistan. Wardak name is sometimes transliterated as Abdur Rahim Wardak, or Abdul Rahim Wardag. He should not be confused with Taj Mohammed Wardak, …
- Jørgen Kosmo
Jørgen Hårek Kosmo is a Norwegian politician. He was Defence Minister from 1993 to 1997 and Minister of Labour and Administrative Affairs 2000-2001 in the first cabinet Stoltenberg. He has been member of the Norwegian Parliament from 1985 to 2005 and served as president (speaker) of the parliament 2001-2005. Kosmo was in 2004 appointed county governor of Telemark, but could not take over the position while he was member of parliament.
- Tobias Joaquim Dai
General Tobias Joaquim Dai (born 25 November, 1950) is the Minister of National Defence of Mozambique. He took office 17 January, 2000.
- Jens Christian Hauge
Jens Christian Hauge (15 May 1915 - 30 October 2006) was a Norwegian World War II resistance figure and politician who was the leader of the secret military organization Milorg during WWII. Hauge was a lawyer and started his resistance work in 1941, and was jailed for some months in the autumn of that year. Out of prison in 1942, he quickly advanced within the resistance movement, and within a year he was the secret leader of the clandestine organisation.
- Maximiliano Hernández Martínez
Maximiliano Hernández Martínez was the President of El Salvador from 1931 to 1944. Serving as President Arturo Araujo's Minister of Defense, he seized power during a palace coup, capitalizing on political unrest brought on by the collapse of coffee prices. An admirer of fascism, Hernández Martínez led a military government that actively suppressed opposition, most notably the Salvadoran peasant revolt of 1932 led by Farabundo Martí, …
- Klaus Berntsen
Klaus Berntsen (12 June 1844 - 27 March 1927) was a Danish politician, representing the Liberal party, "Venstre." He was Council President of Denmark from 5 July 1910 to 21 June 1913 as the leader of the Cabinet of Klaus Berntsen. From 5 May 1920 to 9 October 1922 he served as Defence Minister Very early he took part in politics as a quick-witted and popular agitator but belonging to the Moderate Venstre he was for many years without much political influence.
- Kjeld Olesen
Kjeld Olesen (born 1932) is a Danish former Social Democratic politician. He was a Member of Parliament 1966 - 1987 and served as Deputy Chairman of the Social Democratic Party in the 1970s. He served in several cabinet positions, most notably as Foreign Minister and Defence Minister. Following his exit from politics he resumed his old profession as a sailor. "This article is based on the corresponding article on the Danish Wikipedia, accessed on 3 May 2006."
- Erik Ninn-Hansen
Erik Ninn-Hansen is a Danish politician. He served in the Cabinet of Hilmar Baunsgaard, first as Defence Minister, and later as Finance Minister. In the early 1970s he became leader of the Conservative People's Party, but without much success, as the party slumped to its worst-ever results in the 1973 and 1975 elections. In the 1980s cabinets of Poul Schlüter, Erik Ninn-Hansen served as Justice Minister.
- Henk Vredeling
Henk Vredeling (born 20 November 1924) was a Dutch politician. In 1956 he was first elected member of Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, as representative of Partij van de Arbeid. From 1958 to 1973 he was member of the European Parliament. He served as Minister of Defence (1973-1977) and European Commissioner (1977-1981).
- Ali-Ben Bongo
Ali-Ben Bongo Ondimba (born Alain Bernard Bongo on February 9, 1959 in Brazzaville) is the Defence Minister of Gabon. He is the son of President Omar Bongo and Patience Dabany (born Josephine Kama). After having studied law, he entered politics in the 1980s, and worked in the office of his father. In 1989, while 29 years old, Ali Bongo became the Foreign Minister of Gabon.