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Obama nominates Fort Leavenworth official to NATO mission assignment

By Staff Reports - | Oct 14, 2009

Changes at the top are in motion at Fort Leavenworth.

The Department of Defense announced this past week that Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV has been nominated by President Barack Obama for assignment as commander, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan/commander with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Training Mission-Afghanistan. Caldwell is currently commanding general of the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth.

Caldwell came to Fort Leavenworth in July, 2007, after having spent the previous year in Iraq, where he served as military spokesman to the media.

During his tenure at Fort Leavenworth, Caldwell had three goals, the first being a continued emphasis on leadership development. He said developing leaders was why officers come to the college in the first place, making it the most critical issue when training the future officers of the U.S. Army.

His second goal was to give more stress to interagency cooperation throughout all military operations. The number of interagency students in the fort’s Command and General Staff College class more than tripled in Caldwell’s first year at the helm. Caldwell added that focusing on international relations isn’t enough if the partnerships within the U.S. government aren’t stronger.

The third goal involved strategic communications and the need for military officers to share their stories with the public.

The Pentagon will not announce Caldwell’s replacement until the U.S. Senate approves his nomination to the NATO mission.