Mr. Saenz served 30 years as a U.S. Army officer, most of that time in Special Forces (Green Berets), where he completed a variety of assignments throughout the world and commanded at all levels from detachment to brigade. Notably, he commanded two separate Special Forces detachments (A-Teams), the full-accounting mission in Vietnam, and the Army’s largest overseas garrison located in Germany. His operational and combat experience includes Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, numerous counter-narcotics missions in South and Central America, several disaster relief efforts in Central America, Operation Enduring Freedom, and multiple Global War on Terrorism activities at home and abroad.
Today, Mr. James Saenz is the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Counternarcotics and Stabilization Policy. In this capacity, he is responsible for all policies, strategies, priorities, guidance, resource allocation, and program execution applicable to Department of Defense (DoD) activities concerning counter illicit drug trafficking, counter transnational organized crime, counter threat finance, stability operations, peacekeeping missions, and civil affairs.
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