Newt Gingrich and former fighter pilot Scott O’Grady among those named to Pentagon advisory board

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Scott O’Grady, an ex-Air Force fighter pilot who eluded capture by Serbian forces in 1995 after he was shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina, are among eight people who have been appointed to the Pentagon’s Defense Policy Board.

Also appointed to the advisory board are historian and strategist Edward Luttwak; Thomas Carter, a former commercial pilot and retired major general in the Air Force Reserves; Randy Forbes, a former Republican congressman from Virginia; former Sen. Robert Smith, a Republican from New Hampshire; former Ambassador Charles Glazer; and Thomas Stewart, a businessman and former Navy pilot.

“These incoming members bring extensive defense and national security experience to this advisory committee from their time in Congress, the State Department, our armed forces and beyond,” said acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller. “I’m confident the Department of Defense will benefit greatly from their time and service to the board.”

They were named to the board following a purge in late November of almost a dozen former members including former Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and Madeleine Albright, former Democratic U.S. Rep. Jane Harman of California, who now leads the Wilson Center think tank in Washington, and retired Adm. Gary Roughhead, a former Chief of Naval Operations.