Barry Richard McCaffrey (17 November 1942-) was a US Army General who served as Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 29 February 1996 to 20 January 2001, succeeding Lee Brown and preceding Ed Jurith.
Biography[]
Barry Richard McCaffrey was born in Taunton, Massachusetts in 1942, the son of Lieutenant-General William J. McCaffrey, and he joined the US Army in 1964. He was deployed to the Dominican Republic with the US 82nd Airborne Division in 1965, as an advisor to the South Vietnamese ARVN from 1966 to 1967, and as a company commander in the US 1st Cavalry Division from 1968 to 1969. He was twice awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, thrice awarded Purple Hearts for being wounded in combat, and twice awarded the Silver Star. During the Gulf War, he commanded the US 24th Infantry Division, leading a "left hook" attack 230 miles into Iraq, forcing Iraq to agree to an armistice. His last command was at the Battle of Rumaila, which occurred when he controversially ordered his men to kill retreating Iraqi soldiers after the ceasefire agreement. His last command was SOUTHCOM, headquartered in Panama, from 1994 to 1996. Upon his retirement, he served as President Bill Clinton's Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy from 1996 to 2001, heading an initiative that began in 1999 to eliminate coca farming in Colombia. During the War on Terror, he harshly criticized the US treatment of detainees. On 16 March 2018, he criticized President Donald Trump as a threat to national security who was under the sway of Russian president Vladimir Putin.